We are all trying to make a difference with our energy usage now that prices of EVERYTHING are now rocketing.
Whether you are a remote worker trying to save cash, a family of four trying to save on energy bills or just someone wanting to reduce your outgoings- we have managed to pull together some incredible products that can help.
Amazon Prime Day is a great way to try and save on energy saving products for your home- including home, tech and beauty products.
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Air fryers
Air fryers require less oil and cooking experts say they help reduce the calorie content of the overall meal, making it a healthier way to cook whilst also preserving the flavour of the meal. They have become popular in recent years with many appearing in several kitchens across the country.
Brands like Ninja, Tefal and more have proven the most popular among shoppers and many air fryers are currently discounted on Amazon at the moment. Some feature in the Amazon Prime Day sale too. Scroll down for the cheapest one's we have found so far.
The cheapest we have found so far is this Tower T17023 model. The 2.2litre air fryer oven has a 30 minute timer, is black in colour and has a rapid air circulation feature.
Priced at £38 currently, the model was originally £44.99 and it may come down even further for Amazon Prime Day. Its rapid air circulation creates crispier textures across your mealtime favourites, is 30% faster than a conventional oven and claims to save up to 50% on energy. There's also a family size version, measuring at 4.3 litres for £59.99, instead of £69.99 - 14% off.
Meanwhile, this Tower T14001 model is £43.75 instead of £59.99 and comes with removable glass bowl, extender ring and a recipe book. It's black in colour and is 17 litres and has advanced Halogen technology which heats air up to 200°C and targets food directly, for faster cooking times and lower energy consumption.
For £7 more you can get this Llivekit five litre air fryer for £50.99. This model has a digital touchscreen with ten pre-sets and a removable basket. The air fryer has 10 pre-set programs to make consumer's cooking easier. Through the smart LED display, users can set the cooking time (0-60 minutes), cooking temperature (80-200℃) and heat preservation time (2h).
At £69.99, this Aigostar has 25% off and has eight pre-set functions and is measuring at 4.2litres, or for £10 more this air fryer comes with a visible window so you can see your food as it cooks.
READ MORE: We compared Ninja, Salter, Proscenic and Innoteck air fryers to test their money saving features
Ninja is up there with some of the most popular brands for air fryers. There is a range of models currently featured as a discounted price on Amazon, and we expect these to be reduced further come Amazon Prime Day.
In terms of the best value, this Ninja Air Fryer Max model comes in pretty much top. It has a 5.2 litre capacity and is grey and black in colour. It cooks up to 50% faster than fan ovens (tested against fish fingers and sausages), and has six cooking functions - Max Crisp, Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Reheat and Dehydrate. It's currently priced at £129 instead of £149.99, worth keeping an eye on here come Amazon Prime Day.
Sticking with Ninja, their Foodi air fryer doubles as a multi-cooker, so you're buying not only an air fryer but a pressure cooker too. It has a discount of 12%, priced at £149.
There are six ways to cook – Pressure Cook, Air Crisp, Slow Cook, Steam, Sear, Sauté, Bake and Roast. Pressure cooks up to 70% faster than traditional cooking methods.
For £40 more you can get this Ninja Foodi 11-in1 smart lid multi-cooker and air fryer. It has a six litre capacity, and users can combi-steam and slow cook, as well as grill, bake and air fry. This model is priced at £189 instead of £279.99 which is quite a big reduction already.
For a full list of air-fryers currently discounted visit Amazon and make sure you save the landing page for easy access to cheap air fryers come Amazon Prime Day.
Laser Hair Removal
Some women will know that for just one course of hair removal it can be a pretty expensive price to pay.
Now Amazon have the Philips Lumea range on offer in their Prime Day offerings- where you can get hair free in the comfort of your home for ALOT cheaper in the long run.
Gemma Sherlock, Affiliates and Network Editor, tested the Philips Lumea IPL Hair Removal Device which is now reduced to £349.99 compared to it's RRP of £409.
Hair removal has dramatically advanced in recent years though, and it's also become a lot more affordable as many new gadgets now claim to do the same job in the comfort of your own home. Therefore, the prices, although still steeper than your average razor, become that little more affordable, especially when you factor in the possible time, energy, and long-term cost you'll be saving by using one of the high-spec devices.
With this in mind I decided to try the Philips Lumea IPL device which claims to give six months of hair-free smooth skin. I was particular attracted to this one due to Philips being a leading brand when it comes to at-home hair removal and also the fact that this machine uses IPL.
IPL, intense pulsed light, claims to be a more painless long-term solution to keeping your skin hair-free and I've certainly found that to be the case over the course of the three months I've been using it. Over time, IPL, destroys the hair at the root and breaks the cycle of hair regrowth. It's known to be one of the most efficient and effect ways to achieving hair loss.
The difference between laser and IPL is the type of light. IPL is a broadband pulsed light source, whereas laser is a monochromatic coherent light source. Both methods target the hair follicle and permanent results can be expected from both, but I preferred the IPL option just because I found it gentler on my pale skin-tone.
The device comes with four curved attachments, which aim to fit and adapt to every curve of your body; from armpits and bikini line to upper lip, face and legs, so you can treat the areas that are important to you. I tested the machine on my legs, but more to come on that later.
You also get a white padded pouch to store the Lumea in, handy if you want to take it away. There's a charger in there for corded and cordless use, as well as an instruction manual and guide to their Lumea IPL app. Derived from professional IPL technology and developed with dermatologists, the Lumea is suitable for the following skin tones and body hair colours
Verdict
After the first two treatments I noticed a difference. My hair was growing thinner and hardly growing back at all around my knees. My hair is slightly darker around the bottom of my legs and around my ankles and this has took the longest time to disappear. After the third treatment I noticed less hair growth and also smoother skin and was amazed at how quick the results were.
Philips usually advise at least three sessions over the course of six weeks to start seeing the results but they vary person by person. I was really pleased with how my hair decreased in thickness and density after three treatments, and it's quick too.
My biggest niggle though is the price tag, at £459, it's pretty hefty and it would have been good to have some cleaning wipes included and even protective eye-wear for that price, but overall you're saving money in the long run for results that actually work, well for me anyway.
There are cheaper options available though although they are for slightly different models but equally do the same job. Currys has a Lumea for £359, Boots has one for £299.99. Amazon has it priced at £349.99 in it's Amazon Prime Day deals section, while John Lewis has the model for £459.
Home Appliances
Laica Kettle- The Kettle that boils one cup to save on flicking the switch of your kettle on and off all day.
Beth Shufflebotham, affiliates and reviews writer, shows us how it works and helps to cut costs at home.
I’m forever boiling the kettle for a cuppa, I’d invite the postie in just for an excuse to make a brew. But with rising energy bills, fuel and the general cost of living, I’m more conscious than ever of waste - be it wasting energy, water, or a precious Yorkshire tea bag. I mean, is there anything worse than forgetting about your tea until it's stone cold?
So, with guests round and making five or six brews, we needed a better solution than the one we already have at home.
The up and down constant cycle of mug under, press the button, switch it out, mug under, press the button. By the time you’d poured the final mug, the first was already going cold. It’s safe to say that I have missed the efficiency of pouring from a kettle.
READ MORE: The free kettle trick I use to cut £25 a month off my energy bills
The Laica Dual Flo kettle offers the best of both worlds, and is said to be the ‘first and only combined kettle and hot water dispenser’ on the market.
Eco-friendly and multifunctional, the hot water dispenser only boils the water you need, but can also boil up to 1.5 litres if you’ve got a house full.
Setting up the kettle was pretty easy. It comes with a base, kettle and drip tray and you can literally just plug in and go. On top of the kettle there is a dial where you can select your mug size, and a button to start or stop a boil.
I decided to test out the hot water dispenser function first, popping out the spout at the touch of a button, placing my mug underneath and hitting the button to boil. After around 45 seconds, the hot water began to pour from the dispenser and filled my cup half way on the smallest cup setting.
I decided to see how much water the large mug setting would fill, so again, set up a brew, twisted the dial and hit ‘go’. This time, my mug was filled the perfect amount, leaving ample space for milk and stirring.
It felt fast and convenient, and much better than waiting more than two minutes for a full kettle to boil every time you want a brew. What really interested me about the dispenser though, was that if you boil one cup of water, the rest of the water in the kettle is still cold - so it really does only boil what it needs without wasting energy.
I really had missed that flexibility though, and the choice to fill and use a kettle when cooking, or filling a flask, making a large round of brews or doing things like making gravy. Because of the Laica’s two-in-one functionality, you can boil the full kettle - just make sure the one cup dispenser is deactivated - and use the full capacity to fill your pots or anything else you might need a larger volume of hot water for.
The design of the kettle itself is fairly compact and stylish, and it certainly looks impressive. While sturdy in itself, it can shake a little when boiling, and is on the noisy side, but not quite as noisy as other brands I have trialled before.
I love that it’s hands free, meaning you don’t have to stand around waiting for the kettle to boil and can race against the clock to complete other kitchen tasks like putting the dishes away or feeding the dog.
I’m really pleased to have the option back to dispense one cup, or a whole kettle of water while still saving energy in comparison to a regular kettle. It’s also a great choice for those who might find lifting a heavy kettle difficult because they can use the dispenser, and is the ideal solution to reducing waste, saving energy and still having the perfect cup of tea at the end of it all.
You can find the Laica Dual Flo kettle on Amazon for £69.
Heated Hoodie
Gemma managed to get her hands on this reduced Heated Hoodie now only costing £26.99 in the sales.
Let's face it, we all know somebody who is always cold- least this will save on the heating bills.
I found this OHS heated hoodie on Amazon, and had to admit I was intrigued. The idea of something constantly keeping me warm, whilst also being comfortable and cosy was definitely very appealing. When it arrived, it was a very simple set up.
It does require a USB portable battery pack , which you can also pick up on Amazon for around £10. The portable charging pack I got also works for my phone, which was a bonus, and you simply plug the hoodie into the battery pack.
I was very keen and tried to charge the hoodie up straight away with the battery pack, and although it flashed to tell me it was charged up, it didn’t last very long before it died.
I realised I needed to charge the battery pack itself up first, which took a few hours to reach maximum charge. Once it was charged, I just plugged the battery pack into the hoodie, which has a concealed charging point in the front pocket.
While it’s charging there’s a red flashing light on the on/off button that flashes whilst it’s charging, then turns to blue when it’s ready to go. It took about 15 minutes for the hoodie to heat up and reach full charge which was great, and you can turn it off between uses so you don’t need to always wait this long for it to charge before wearing it.
There’s three heat settings, high, medium and low, and they have a red, blue or green light to show which one you’re on. The hoodie has three heated areas across the shoulders, the stomach and chest areas, and the lining is a thick, soft fleece which makes it warm even when it’s not turned on.
You do need to keep the battery pack plugged into the hoodie and turned on at all times, otherwise as soon as you unplug it the hoodie starts to cool down. The only downside I could find is that between charging the battery pack and the hoodie up, it can take several hours until you can wear your hoodie.
But as long as you turn it off in between uses it should last a while before you have to recharge it, and you can always leave your battery pack charging up between uses so it’s ready to go whenever you need it. The hoodie did exactly what I hoped, and kept me warm and cosy without having to turn the heating on or put on three or four layers.
This is definitely going to be something I wear all the time at home now, it keeps the cold at bay and still lets me get my work done. Get yours on Amazon now for just £26.99 .
Home gadget offers you don't want to miss...
The Bambino by Sage, Brushed Stainless Steel coffee machine RRP is £329.95, but now reduced to just £199.
Also, this Garmin dashcam has 50% off - the Amazon Choice deal is a must- especially for summer test passers.
It's pocket sized and voice controlled- so this kind of gadget is one that suits everyone with seemingly being pretty simple to set up.
For the gadget lovers, we have tried & tested quite a handful of Amazon's long list of nifty items too- including the likes of baby car mirrors (in Prime Day offer for £9.99), interactive gaming lighting and curtain closing gadgets for those taking a vacation (yep.... you read that right).
EXCLUSIVE REACH READERS DEAL
We have an exclusive deal for our readers which you can spend on the SwitchBot tech products on the Amazon pages.
You can find everything from smart humidifiers, cameras, motion sensors, curtain closers- it's like a tech gadget lovers paradise!
If you'd like to kit your house out with some SwitchBot tech, the company is offering some big discounts.
From 7th July to 11th July there will be 30% off all SwitchBot combos and over the Prime Day weekend, July 12th and 13th, there will be between 30% and 50% off across the range.
SwitchBot will also accept a discount code for Reach PLC readers which gives an extra 5% off on the SwitchBot store and the Amazon store. Use code 3522PDSB between July 7th and July 13th.
Anyone shopping with SwithBot during the Prime Day weekend will also be entered into a draw to win one of 50 iPhone 14s.
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