When we moved house, back in March, one of the things which appealed to us was that the landlord was leaving the appliances in-situ, meaning we wouldn’t need to buy a cooker or dishwasher, and could sell our old washing machine and fridge freezer, giving us more money towards our move. Somewhat typically though, the dishwasher and cooker have both died since we moved in, leaving us with the expense of replacing them so soon after shelling out thousands to move. The dishwasher was easy to replace and we picked one up in a good deal from Appliances Online, but the cooker has been trickier to deal with.
The one which broke down (and when I say “broke down”, I mean condemned by the gas board and disconnected for leaking gas) is a 90cm range cooker which means we have to buy another 90cm range to fill the gap in the units. This means that it’s twice the price and when we leave, we’ll be stuck with an expensive cooker which probably won’t fit into another kitchen. The oven part still works, but the hob and grill are completely kaput and the thought of feeding two kids with no hob was a scary one.
In steps my hero; The Halo+ Health Fryer.
Breville sent us one of these to review absolutely ages ago, and beyond using it to make chips and melt the cheese for cheese on toast, we hadn’t used it that much. However, since the hob died, I’ve used it to make the meat and sauce for lasagne, cook curries, stir-fries, grill steaks and chops, cook bacon, fajitas, even S’mores! The Halo+ is SO much more versatile than I gave it credit for and it’s stepped up and done the job of both a grill and a hob at a time when I would have been truly stuck without it.
One thing I love about cooking in the Halo is that, because it’s a sealed unit, when you cook things like chunks of chicken for Enchiladas, the chicken stays nice and moist. The direct heat from the element inside cooks things speedily and the fact that the inside rotates constantly, moving the food around means that everything cooks evenly and I never have to stand a stir things for ages.
The non-stick bowl inside the Halo+ means that I barely ever use oil when I’m cooking in it, other than the small amount needed for chips, so everything we’ve been making has been just that extra bit healthier, too.
At some point, we’re going to have to bite the bullet and buy ourselves a new cooker, which will be nice but the expense a little eye-watering, especially as we have Sausage’s birthday and the school holidays coming up, but in the meantime, our Breville Halo+ Health Fryer has done us proud. It is SO much more than a gadget for making chips and we would have been genuinely stuck without it, these past couple of months. If you’re thinking of buying one for yourself, please don’t hesitate. If you’re brave and experiment with new things, it can change the way you cook. Even when we do shell out for a new cooker, I’ll continue to use the Halo+ for lots of the things I use it for now. It’s my little kitchen hero!
