Britons turn to air fryers, slow cookers to cut energy costs, says Asda

Britons are turning to energy saving products such as air fryers and slow cookers as they look for ways to combat the cost of living crisis, supermarket group Asda said on Wednesday.

Publishing its monthly Asda Income Tracker for September, the group said it had seen a 320 per cent increase in air fryer sales year-on-year, while sales of slow cookers had more than doubled – both generally use less energy than traditional ovens.

The findings chime with data from market researcher Kantar published earlier this month.

Asda said its data, collated by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), showed UK families were £141 worse off in September year-on-year, mainly due to soaring utility bills, with gas prices up 95.7 per cent and electricity prices up 54 per cent.

UK consumers have been reining in spending with inflation hitting 10 per cent and they also face the prospect of a tighter squeeze in 2023 after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he would scrap tax cuts previously planned by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Asda said the outlook for household incomes was highly dependent on the government’s response to energy prices.

Earlier this month, Hunt said the government’s energy support scheme for households, which it had previously committed to for two years, would instead be reviewed from April 2023.