Healthy Eating - is it Really the Chip?

We British love our chips, and the British Chippy is world famous! But for many of us eating chips is now something we associate with a health issues. Whilst we might love them, we also know our heart is creaking with unhealthy saturates when we eat them. Munching into delicious deep fried chips is something we simply don’t do so often. The chip pan certainly doesn’t have the same place in most kitchens it did in years past. Maybe we’ve progressed to oven chips, with ‘only 5% fat and so easy to cook, a much healthier alternative!’ But I don’t know about you, but have you noticed how they taste? Sunflower oil might be better for us, but it doesn’t help the flavour of a delicious, hot, crispy chip!

The answer is seems isn’t a quick trip down the Chippy, but a Tefal ActiFry! Tefal introduced the ActiFry in 2009. They claim the ActiFry, with just a teaspoon of oil, produces chips with just 3% fat. If they taste good - I’m sold!
Well the good news is they do!

In just 20 minutes the Tefal ActiFry hot air fryer, rotates freshly chopped potatoes, in a mere teaspoon of oil, to produce a batch of crispy, irresistible and, dear I say it, healthy chips. They taste fantastic too!

But the Tefal Actifry isn’t just a one trick pony, it can cook just about anything; a Weekend Casserole or Spaghetti Bolognaises, a quick supper of Sweet and Sour Chicken, or the Sunday Roasties! Perhaps you might even be tempted to try some new ideas too - like crispy courgette slices or Sweet Potato chips! It’s so easy to come up with recipes that the family will love; you’ll be inspired by a new cooking method which is not only fast, but fun as well!

If you prefer a recipe, Tefal produce a great little recipe book which comes with the Actifry. Plus there are several good hot air fryer books on the market, but with the options so endless you might just fancy inventing some new ideas yourself!

Unlike the old chip pan, this product is easy to clean as well. The frying pan removes and goes straight into the dishwasher, as does the lid and the rotating paddle which moves the food around the pan. You might occasionally wipe clean the casing but as it uses so little oil the machine does stay pretty clean.

Tefal ActiFry comes in four models, the original ‘Tefal ActiFry – White’ which like the limited edition ‘Tefal ActiFry – Black’, has a 1kg food capacity, removable bowl, digital timer and handy measuring spoon. The ‘Tefal ActiFry Plus’, is slightly larger with a 1.2kg capacity and redesigned cooking bowl and finally the ‘Tefal ActiFry - Family’ offers a 50% greater capacity than the original, and has an LCD display and auto stop function.

Is there any down side to this device, well you may be inclined to eat more chips but at only 3% fat you could be doing a lot worse!