Eat chips - feel good (Tefal ActiFry)

Member Name: Chinablue

Product:	Tefal ActiFry
Date:	13/04/09 (215 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can fry in one spoon of olive oil darhling

Disadvantages: They know how good it is and put the price up

I absolutely love this machine. I binned my deep fat frier a number of years ago as they are greasy, dirty, unhealthy and make the world smell of chip fat. unfortunately oven chips taste like badly done spuds and we dont have a local chippie. I spotted the actifyer whilst looking for a new TV (still havent got one) and went home and googled it immediately. A while later Amazon was showing me a little video of how to cook a whole batch of chips with one tablespoon of olive oil and I was pressing the "here have my 90 quid" button. Im glad I did for two reasons, one is that I can eat healthy chips everyday and the other is that they have since whammed the price right up. The 40 minuites thing isnt quite right coz the chips or roasties taste no worse if you only do them for 25mins which means that you can have a second batch before most people have finished the first helping - if you have 4 or more in the family. They can be a little tiny bit dry tasting but if you like lashings of salt and vinegar then this really isnt a problem. I have "sold" at least 3 of these to friends and family and they all love it too. The lakeland site has a downloadable recipe booklet which shows all kinds of stuff that frankly "isnt chips" but I have never tried any of these personally. Not because im a lazy cook or anything, but that I really wouldnt want to compromise the non stick on the pan. For this reason I also always turf out my chips onto a serving plate. Its easy to clean and safe to dishwash so it says (again I always just use a cloth to avoid messin with the non stick stuff).
Why you need one - you can cook chips for 4 with one spoon of olive oil
Why you might not get one - its had more price hikes than the wii
General price considerations - this is a lot more expensive than your everyday traditional deep fat fyer which you could probably pick up for 20 quid however it has the following advantages :
1 you dont need to fill it up with oil - it takes one tablespoon of oil per load and so you can afford to use olive oil.
2 The oil doesnt sit there going rancid between uses.
3 It doesnt create spatter back and kitchen smell so you dont have to have a zone around it which will need frequent redecoration.
4 Its so much better for you and could be used as part of a callorie controlled diet.
5 There is no warm up time - it starts cooking immediately
How it works:
There is a small stirrer in the centre so that all the chips/potatoes/food is continually going round, coated in the small amount of oil and there is a heated airstream continually passing through. The only problem with this is that if you overfilled it some food would be ejected up to the ledge level and not cook, or would burn. Severe overfilling would cause the rotation to stop. This is easily remediable however as you can open the actifryer during the cooking process.
The timer turning off does not turn off the appliance - this can be good if you are in the room and want the food to stay hot but could be pain if you forgot about it.

Summary: Get one but get someone else to pay

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