My dad would say a cast iron pan. That would outlive you and your kids.
I would say maybe an air fryer, I think you could get a decent one for less than $100USD. I use mine every day.
Otherwise, maybe good waterproof boots. I got some decent ones at an outlet store. They are kind of dressy so nice enough for work, but also warm AF and during the winter they are so good.
An air fryer is an appliance with electrical parts, including probably some fragile cheap electronics, moving parts (the fan that blows the air around) and parts made of different materials in a machine that is going to experience lots of cycles of heating and cooling. That is to say, there is a pretty sizable room for wear and tear. Hopefully it’ll last you many years, but one doesn’t really expect a machine like that to last for generations, especially considering things like planned obsolescence. A pan has no moving parts, no powered components, nothing but a hug sturdy slab of metal formed into a specific shape. As long as you take care of it properly to avoid corrosion, there’s not really anything to break about such a thing. So the idea of the later lasting practically indefinitely makes sense, the former not so much.
Plus one for airfryer. Bought one that was on discount a few years back, has a spot on top of the cabinet when not in use but it’s almost always on the counter.
What do you use it for? I can’t think of a single thing that I would need an airfryer for. Between a standard convection oven and a deep fryer there is a better tool for anything you would possibly use the airfryer for.
A large oven uses a lot of electricity that is wasted for heating up that entire space.
An air fryer is nothing but a small convection oven. That means it heats up almost instantly, wastes much less heat, can circulate the air much faster for faster baking, and uses substantially less heat. And it doesn’t generate the smell of deep frying.
We use ours almost every day. The oven is basically not used unless we make full size pizza.
The standard convection oven isn’t a better tool except in size.
Our air fryer is also quite good at making things like potatoes or tofu crispy, not deep fried crispy, but nice and crispy without that much oil or the amount of time it would need in the convection oven.
I think you could get away with an oven and a deepfryer with everything, but in my experience an airfryer is generally faster than the oven, and less oily than a deep fryer (I wanna say more healthy but I don’t really know enough about the details, so I’ll just stick to the objectively “less oily”).
I use it for fries (sweet potatoe fries most often), anything resembling nuggets (like vegetarian nuggets/schnitzels, other veggy pattys, falafel), fry-snacks (eggrolls, samosa, bitterballs), and you can get a bit adventurous with trying our breads, vegetables, or other stuff that you would just plop in the oven.
My dad would say a cast iron pan. That would outlive you and your kids.
I would say maybe an air fryer, I think you could get a decent one for less than $100USD. I use mine every day.
Otherwise, maybe good waterproof boots. I got some decent ones at an outlet store. They are kind of dressy so nice enough for work, but also warm AF and during the winter they are so good.
Why does the thought of being outlived by ones air fryer feel worse than being outlived by ones cast iron pan?
An air fryer is an appliance with electrical parts, including probably some fragile cheap electronics, moving parts (the fan that blows the air around) and parts made of different materials in a machine that is going to experience lots of cycles of heating and cooling. That is to say, there is a pretty sizable room for wear and tear. Hopefully it’ll last you many years, but one doesn’t really expect a machine like that to last for generations, especially considering things like planned obsolescence. A pan has no moving parts, no powered components, nothing but a hug sturdy slab of metal formed into a specific shape. As long as you take care of it properly to avoid corrosion, there’s not really anything to break about such a thing. So the idea of the later lasting practically indefinitely makes sense, the former not so much.
Chatgpt, is it you?
No? Why would it be?
Probably because normally you’d expect to outlive the air fryer but not the pan…
Plus one for airfryer. Bought one that was on discount a few years back, has a spot on top of the cabinet when not in use but it’s almost always on the counter.
What do you use it for? I can’t think of a single thing that I would need an airfryer for. Between a standard convection oven and a deep fryer there is a better tool for anything you would possibly use the airfryer for.
A large oven uses a lot of electricity that is wasted for heating up that entire space.
An air fryer is nothing but a small convection oven. That means it heats up almost instantly, wastes much less heat, can circulate the air much faster for faster baking, and uses substantially less heat. And it doesn’t generate the smell of deep frying.
We use ours almost every day. The oven is basically not used unless we make full size pizza.
The standard convection oven isn’t a better tool except in size.
Our air fryer is also quite good at making things like potatoes or tofu crispy, not deep fried crispy, but nice and crispy without that much oil or the amount of time it would need in the convection oven.
I think you could get away with an oven and a deepfryer with everything, but in my experience an airfryer is generally faster than the oven, and less oily than a deep fryer (I wanna say more healthy but I don’t really know enough about the details, so I’ll just stick to the objectively “less oily”).
I use it for fries (sweet potatoe fries most often), anything resembling nuggets (like vegetarian nuggets/schnitzels, other veggy pattys, falafel), fry-snacks (eggrolls, samosa, bitterballs), and you can get a bit adventurous with trying our breads, vegetables, or other stuff that you would just plop in the oven.