*This post contains affiliate links and we may earn a small commission at no additional cost you. See our brand partners page to learn more.
Cooking With Cast Iron
Cookware is an essential in every kitchen but a majority of cookware is highly toxic. From non stick coatings to aluminum if you’re not cooking with cast iron or stainless chances are what you’re using is harmful to your health.
Non stick coatings are known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin. When cooked with these chemicals can leech into your foods and expose you to these harmful toxins. Even ceramic pans that claim to be non toxic often contain dangerous chemicals that are harmful to your well-being.
A lot of people are resistant to the idea of cooking with cast iron or stainless because of food sticking to the pans or the need to use butter or oil to cook with. My response to this is that when used correctly these types of pans are in fact non stick. And while yes, a little butter or oil needs to be used, it’s important to remember that healthy fats are an essential part of a healthy diet. Healthy fats are crucial to healthy brain function, cellular development, and more. You can read more about the importance of healthy fats here. If you are resistant to cooking with cast iron or stainless steel because of the need to cook with healthy fats I highly suggest you look into it some more.
Non toxic and non stick
Cooking with cast iron or stainless really can be non stick if cooked with properly. The key to non stick cooking with cast iron is a well seasoned pan. I use cast iron for everything, I even have a cast iron waffle maker and it works great!
Seasoning cast iron is fairly simple do to. You’ll need a fat with a high smoke point like coconut oil, tallow, or lard. Thoroughly scrub your cast iron pan clean then put a generous coating of your choosen fat over the entire pan inside and out.
Place your pan upside down on a baking sheet and bake your pan for 1 hr at 400⁰. Let the pan cool a bit in the oven before wiping away the excess fat with a cloth.
Repeat the process 1 to 2 more times.
Once I have seasoned a pan 2 or 3 times I almost never need to reseason it and it becomes more seasoned the more it is cooked with. I do make sure to do a “maintenance” seasoning a couple times a week which only takes a minute. To give your pan a maintenance seasoning simply warm it back up after cleaning and rub a little fat all over the inside of your pan.
Once your pan is well seasoned, non stick cooking is as simple as letting your pan pre heat before adding your cooking fat. This is also true if you’re using stainless steel. Letting your pans pre heat is the key to successful non stick cooking with cast iron or stainless steel. This usually only takes 2-3 minutes and you’ll know it’s ready when you can flick a drop off water on your pan and it dances around the pan.
Add a teaspoon or so if your chosen fat and coat the inside of your pan well. Allow the fat to warm up a bit and to create the non stick coating you’re desiring and then you are ready to cook away.
Cleaning Your Pans
My absolute number one reason for cooking with cast iron is that it’s extremely easy to clean. In fact a majority of the time it really only needs to be wiped out with a damp wash cloth.
I make it a practice to wipe it out with a damp cloth immediately after cooking while the pan is still warm and I rarely need to clean it further. After wiping it out I will turn the burner back on for a minute to ensure it’s clean and dry and if I feel the need to give it a maintenance seasoning I will do so.
On the occasions that my pan does need a little extra scrubbing I will add a little salt to the pan before cleaning it with a damp cloth. My pans always come clean quickly and easily. And for this busy momma of 6, quick and easy clean up is a must!
Depending on what was cooked stainless can be just as easy to clean. Most often a quick scrub with warm water and dish soap is all that is needed. If there’s something a little tougher to clean I’ll leave it to soak in hot soapy water for a bit first. Find my favorite non toxic dish soap here.
Choosing The Right Pans
If you can find vintage cast iron pans that really is the best. They are hand forged so they are more durable but lighter than modern day cast iron that is machine forged. They can be hard to come by however, so don’t sweat it if you need to purchase a brand new cast iron pan.
Lodge is a decent brand that we use and love, however I do stay away from their enameled products. The main work horses in my kitchen are their large 17 inch frying pan and their large 7qt dutch oven. I cook 90% of our meals in these two pans.
Another lodge favorite is their griddle. We primarily use it as a cookie sheet but it can serve multiple purposes. It has a flat side that’s great for baking cookies and a grill side that you can grill meat or veggies with.
We also have a couple of their smaller frying pans but we just don’t use them as much for our large family. If you have a smaller family though these pans might be perfect for you.
In addition to our cast iron pans we do have a couple stainless pots. We have large stock pot and smaller sauce pan. These don’t get nearly as much use as our cast iron but they are good to have in our cookware arsenal. If you prefer stainless to cast iron I highly recommend you get ones without an aluminum core like this set.
Built to last
My final say as to why cooking with cast iron or stainless steel is better than anything else is the durability of these pans.
We went through 10 frying pans in 3 years trying to find a non toxic, non stick pan that worked and we ended up wasting a few hundred dollars in the process.
We were newer to toxic free living and knew we needed to get rid of our Teflon pans. What we didn’t know was that these supposed non toxic pans were in fact very toxic. And no matter what we did, the coatings of the pans got scratched up and worn out after just a few uses.
The money we wasted on all these frying pans could have bought us a nice stainless steel set. But I wasn’t as informed then as I am now and didn’t want to deal with my food sticking. I had similar thoughts in regards to cast iron. But after so much money wasted we decided to give cast iron, which is fairly cheap, a try. After 2 weeks we were sold and bought several more items that we are still using 8yrs later.
You can buy 2 or 3 quality cast iron pans for less than $100 and they will last forever. My kids already talk about who will inherit our cast iron. Don’t be like us wasting time and money on pans that are not only more expensive but don’t last very long and are highly toxic. Stainless steel is a bit of an investment but they are also built to last. You’ll save money in the long run not having to replace your pans.