This Mistral 3.5l Air Fryer is currently on special at Woolworths. Usual price is $49, shelf price showing as $39.20. However register and online price is $34.
The unit is quite basic and there are larger options available, but for someone after a simple air fryer this might be useful.
Note there is limited stock available at some stores.
Lock in 1 thanks Eddie.
The top 1, or the bottom 1 ?
Yes as long as you cut the fries small enough to fit
Thanks
I read a recommendation to not fill the air fryer drawer more than half full - to allow room for forced air and shaking
No, you usually want to only layer things one deep, else you dont get the fryer effect.
This.
For this reason I generally find the whole concept of these to be a waste of time, can't say I've been that impressed given the hype (have a different brand).
It so depends on the food.
If you have raw potatoes cut into chips, you want one layer only. Same with frozen items.
If you have a bucket of deep-fried stuff from yesterday, it doesn't matter that much. And I don't see different use cases for such air fryers.
Living in a household of one or two.
I pile the fries in. I just give the basket a good shake every 5 mins to mix them up and keep them separated. They come out great.
I have this and use 3 potatoes.
The issue is the timer is analog and not electronic. It broke so now I have to switch it on and off at the wall.
+1 for using cheap & broken air fryer and not replacing it when it's 34$ brand new :)
This isnt an issue. Now you can use a 'smart' power plug!
Which will cost half the price of air fryer
@superm86: Well it’ll be significantly cheaper than any wifi enabled air fryer. The issue with most appliances now are that they aren’t simple turn on turn off things, everything is programmable, so that those smart wifi plugs are pretty useless. My kettle and toaster, rice cooker, Dyson fan, all wouldn’t work because turning power on does nothing.
For once it’ll work with this air fryer.
Because the other is not your cheese.
what is the air fryer of choice fellow ozbargainers? Think its time to try one out
what is the air fryer of choice fellow ozbargainers?
The one with the biggest saving…
i got phillips xxl for free, free is best
I agree FREE is better. I got the 10Li Mistral I picked up the other day for free.
@FlatulentFrank: Found one online giving for free around my area as they don't use it much. Probably doing some spring cleaning.
Judging by previous deals for this air fryer, it is probably this air fryer (especially if you are on a budget and only want a small air fryer to cook a small amount of food).
$34 is not the lowest price for this air fryer (and is nowhere near as good as the one time I got this for free from Woolworths), but it is definitely getting close.
not sure, but I have this one. It does the job.
Philips Essential we got for $120 BigW (it was $140 with $20 back on rewards card) to replace one similar to this deal (Harris Scraf "$250" one for $70). But always downvoted for disliking these rebadged Chinese airfriers.
They're all made in china bud
Yes but is a different between a alibaba badge item and one thats been designed inhouse. Else everyone on Ozbargain would buy whatever drop shipped on amazon.
I've had this air fryer for 15 months. It works well, but the bowl/tray is starting to rust so won't be able to be used soon.
Are you sure it's rust and not baked in grease?
I would have thought it would be made from materials that couldn't rust.
Definitely rust :( the non-stick coating has flaked off and it's rusting underneath. We do use it 2-3 times a week on average, is it's well used.
Fair enough. Were utensils used that could have scratched it off (like metal tongs) or did it flake off from normal use?
@studentl0an: We only have silicone tongs, so I think it's a combination of putting it through the dishwasher and normal use.
@milesandbos: Well a dishwasher is a very harsh environment both for the non stick coating and even the untreated steel underneath.
Might last longer hand wash.
@Grok: a few drops of oil rubbed over by hand or with a bit of tissue after taking it out of the dishwasher might deter the rust
otherwise ferrous items in the dishwasher is a recipe for rust city
Just put down baking paper, haven't had any issues with rust.
@apexplosive: Doesn't the baking paper interrupt the airflow by covering the holes on the bottom of the tray?
@Tiger: I would of thought so - but what would I know
my 1.5 litre KMart/Anko has the element at the top with the fan above it - https://photos.app.goo.gl/d12fRKcUnd8Y49Pz8
I was then mystified by the fan blades that looked fairly vertical - but were L shaped and flat on top - wtf ???
so … I just tested it - plugged it in - laid it down flat on the carpet, shoved in the drawer, which automatically started the fan and heater - let it reach full speed in a couple of seconds and then ripped out the drawer to see the fan direction - which turned out to be clockwise as seen from below or with the flat blade tops trailing - https://photos.app.goo.gl/nwGzgJSGFXq11pLb7
still mystified what the hell that meant, I repeatedly shoved it back in and pulled it out to feel the direction of air movement, i.e. was it pushing down from the fan, or up to circulate around the sides first
and felt it mostly down from the outside of the blade which was not clear
I finally decided that as the blade leading edge had no obvious slope from the vertical, and I didn't know what the hell the flat top of the L-shaped blade was for, that the air must simply be drawn up then pushed out by the outward centrifugal force of the radial blades where it would then hit the side walls and be forced down
make of that what you will - armchair scientists - I'm not sure
either way the main airflow was down from the outer circle of the blades - so now I figure it's drawing hot air up from the element, the top flat part of the blades is to protect the top of the device from radiant heat from the element, and the hot air is pushed out and then down when it hits the insides, and probably hitting both the top of the food, and also going around the outside of the basket to circulate hot air to enter the perforations at the bottom of the basket - if not blocked by baking paper - which I wouldn't use cos risk of fire if the paper got blown up into the element - anyone see that fire video ? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzIT6HwH3KY
do you still have the receipt? If so, take it back to woolies and see if you can get them to exchange it. The coating shouldn't flake off.
@souths123: Pretty sure it's handwash only from memory, I haven't put mine through the dishwasher for this reason
@souths123: 'The coating shouldn't flake off.'
Did you notice the part where he's been washing it in the dishwasher ?
that's a great way to trigger rust in non-stainless steel …
Kmart one too. Used around 6 to 8 months the mesh started to flak off. Should have kept the receipt. Now i have to use baking paper to hold the raw food.
Interesting take on the Mistral Air Fryer: https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/news/the-verdict-on-air-…
Read that too. Came straight over to OzB and there it is on special, Ordered one. Thanks OP
I just bought at the weekend for $39.20 :(
buy new one & return with old receipt
good air fryer for couples. My son bought us one for Christmas last year. I used at lunch today actually.
Title wrong. Should be "Mistral 3.5L Domino's pizza reheater $34' @ Woolworths"
It is AMAZING at reheating pizza 😍 (and KFC chicken)
can vouch for this, 2 day old kfc comes out very nicely.
and left over fish and chips
and stale cinnamon donuts
and liver and fava beans
Last night, I reheated some cold "hot chips" (long story) They actually turned out pretty well.
Title wrong. Should be "Mistral 3.5L Domino's pizza AND local greasy hot chip reheater $34"
Saw some at Melb Central yesterday.
Go for the largest capacity where possible. The extra volume allows for a chook or just more food to be cooked at once and well spaced out. Chips do well when spaced out.
I would think once you get to a certain point you’re just as well off using an actual oven.
Agree. Hence I bought a Philips XXL airfryer for almost $300😂
Those look like blood tears.. given the context..
Hahahah I guess so but I do enjoy using it every day lol
Have the Mistral 5L vesion. Fantastic, we put it to use everyday and been doing so for the past 8-9 months. Can't see what a Phillips at 10x the price could do that this one can't.
We use mainly for fish fillets, chicken, baked lebanese chips and they all come out perfect.
Interested on the chicken bit ….?
Bought one during the last deal, for being a basic bitch it works fairly well.
So frozen fries should just a be a single layer?
'Should' be but not a biggy if not. Not had any issues when we've piled them up, maybe not quite so crispy but still fine
I just shake the basket every couple of mins
It's basic but it is signifcantly worse than the kmart airfryer (that being said, kmart airfryer is $60). Things come out less crispy.
Have you tried both?
Yes
are you comparing the same size ?
if a Philips XXL air fryer is 7.3 litres with a 2225W element - https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/philips-xxl-viva-collection-a… - then that has 305 Watts per litre.
if the Mistral 3.5 litre subject of this thread has a 1500W element that looks like 429 Watts per litre.
my cheap 1.5 litre KMart air fryer with 900W rating looks like 600 Watts per litre.
I'm pretty impressed how quickly mine heats up - I only wish it went to 250C so I could crisp the crap out of lamb loin chops - but I guess the max 200C is to prevent it melting the plastic housing
did y'all read about don't use it on heat damageable surfaces like laminex, glass, stone ? I use mine on the cold largest element of our electric stove where it fits nicely, and pull out the hot basket and rest it on the cold stovetop element beside it, so for noobies watch out there …
i recently got this one and so far is pretty good . Did chicken on rotisserie and came out great.
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B084Z36SZQ/ref=ppx_yo_d…
For 2-3 people this is fantastic. For those that say you need to put one layer of chips on or something, you just need to shake the basket half way through.
This is really a fantastic price, for a good product.
For reference you can easily cook a bag of chips in there. Or two schnitzels. About 4 whole pototos.
I roasted 7 potatoes, cut into eighths, in mine just tonight.
If you don't want to boil the potatoes beforehand, it works well if you coat them in olive oil, and set it for 20 mins at 120, shake the basket, then cook them for another 20 mins at 120, before crisping them up at 180 for ~5 minutes.
potatoes cut into eights then coated with olive oil (I shake them in a plastic shopping bag) is my favourite easy quick way to crispy roast potatoes
before I discovered supermarket frozen shoestring fries - milady cooks them single layer in our big oven for me - I can't complain
I haven't done these in my air fryer yet - but my lazy way would probably be to blast the potato eights (I cut across each time so I get pointed quadrants?) at max 200C until they were crispy, then cut one to check or use my battery temp probe to test the inner temp for cooked
if raw (methinks unlikely) then I'd probably turn it down to finish cooking - or more likely keep blasting it to within an inch of its life so it's crispy madness (and never mind the cancer-causing acrylamides) - https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/d…
Are they really that much better than just using an oven/grill? Apart from potential power savings.
much faster cooking maybe 10x more heat per volume;
easier clean up - after fatty food - a nightmare to clean big oven walls - I just use paper towels to absorb the liquid fat in the drawer, toss those in the bin, then easy soak then easy clean the drawer in the sink
and doesn't seem to smoke as much as big stove grilling - so less need to open windows to quell complaining cohabitants
I was sold on it but couldn't find stock anywhere that I should realistically drive under lockdown :)
I've been using one of these for about 6 months, gets used at least 5 nights a week and hasn't skipped a beat. Great for smaller meals for 2 people but any more than that may be a stretch. Definitely not family sized.
Thanks OP, just purchased my gateway air fryer. I have been resisting the temptation however the goodfoods article combined with the terrific price made it an irresistible deal.
Can anyone else find air fryer for sale include delivery? I cant fnd any in the store i go to
I have one of these and they work great for small quantities of snack foods. Will need to try the reheat pizza option.
Thanks OP finally pulled the trigger after waiting almost a year for this to be on sale. Its not $25 cheap, but I guess that happen nationwide. So I think this is as good as it gonna gets.
Does anyone know whether I can reset the timer once it started? I tried to turn it back, but it seems that I have to force it.
Yes, that's what you do being that it's just a simple alarm clock style timer. Very 20th century
Can it make toast?
Yes. You've just got to turn it halfway through. Also makes supermarket croissants taste like fancy bakery croissants - fresh, warm, flakey.
i have one. It's too loud.
It is loud.
Would 4 potatoes (cut into fries) fit into this?