Cost effective cooking - Are microwaves the cheapest to run?

Sean Norris 30 Sep 2022

The short answer

Yes! Microwave ovens are the cheapest to run out of all the major cooking appliances. See below for a full cost breakdown.

So there’s some sort of “cost of living crisis” going on?!

Yup. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months to hide from all the chaos - which is quite possible - you may have noticed that stuff costs more than it used to.

To help with this, Iceland - the supermarket chain, not the country - have teamed up with energy supplier Utilita for their “Shop Smart, Cook Savvy” campaign in September 2022. The two companies have made a number of pledges that will enable consumers to use less energy and save money - not only good for your pocket but for the planet too!

You could save more than £300 a year!

As part of this campaign, research has been carried out that shows how much each type of major cooking appliance costs to run on average. This helps to easily identify which is the most cost effective.

Just making some simple switches to the more cost effective appliances - such as our favourite, the microwave - could save you a lot of money over time.

If you combine this with other money saving cooking tips such as:

Batch cooking food
Using the right sized pan, with a lid
Let water simmer rather than boil

Then you could easily save more than £300 a year.

So without further ado …

Which cooking appliances are the most cost effective?

In order of least cost effective (electric cooker) to most cost effective (microwave). Here are the running costs for each type of appliance.

6. Electric Cooker

Per day: 87p
Per week: £6.09
Per month: £26.38
Per year: £316.54
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 609

5. Dual cooker (part electric, part gas)

Per day: 72p
Per week: £5.08
Per month: £22
Per year: £264.03
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 609

4. Gas cooker

Per day: 33p
Per week: £2.32
Per month: £10.17
Per year: £120.83
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 611

3. Slow cooker

Per day: 16p
Per week: £2.32
Per month: £10.07
Per year: £120.83
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 611

2. Air fryer

Per day: 14p
Per week: £1.01
Per month: £4.40
Per year: £52.74
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 102

1. Microwave

Per day: 8p
Per week: 58p
Per month: £2.50
Per year: £30.02
CO₂e emissions(equivalent miles driven in average car): 58

* Based on the latest figures from Cornwall Insight on 22nd August. The annual costs may seem to have been totalled wrong but that’s just down to rounding.

Well done microwaves. Take a bow.

Microwave Ovens Microwave Cooking