People are turning away from traditional cooking methods as they try to save energy, with the proportion of households using the oven this year falling 4% and those using the hob and microwave down 6%.

Slow cookers, which use less energy than an oven by heating food at lower temperatures for longer, have seen their popularity rise 41%.  

Half of households (50%) are cutting back on the cost of Christmas food this year due to the cost of living crisis, with two fifths of those (42%) using energy-efficient cooking methods and a third (36%) preparing less food.

Ben Gallizzi, energy expert at Uswitch.com, said: “We’ve all spent the year monitoring our energy use at home, and Christmas dinner is no different, with half of households planning to change cooking methods to reduce their bills. Air fryers were a relatively new phenomenon this time last year, but almost a fifth of households plan to use them to reduce their energy consumption on Christmas Day.

“Appliances like air fryers, slow cookers and microwaves can be the most energy-efficient kitchen devices to cook with, especially if you’re not making enough food to fill the whole of the oven. Christmas is one of the few times of year when households use the whole oven, meaning you don’t need to worry too much about energy efficiency on the big day.”