Cast iron cookware and SHTF....

[VenomJockey]

I knew there was a reason to keep Granny's cast iron cookware!!!

http://www.askaprepper.com/10-advantages-of-using-cast-iron-cookware-when-shtf/

Excerpt: "Cast iron is one of the best types of cookware to use in everyday life. Even better, cast iron is a great cookware option to go for in a SHTF scenario. Cast iron is not the lightest but is sure worth it to bring. To survive you are going to need some way to cook. Having a cast iron pan gives you the ability to cook food and has much versatility as you will soon see."

 

[Dani]

Even use it for baking. I have a few cast irons but I lent my favorite skillet to son number 3 and have not gotten it back yet. Maybe I just need to get him one for Christmas so I can get it back. It was one that granny had used during her lifetime and ended up giving me when she could not lift it any longer.

 

[DrHenley]

Plus they double as an effective bludgeon.

 

[Maverick]

That all I ever use 95% of the time, other times carbon steel. Far easier to clean and keep clean than that fancy non-stick **** being sold today.

 

[DrHenley]

BTW, I found out quite by accident that nothing seasons a cast iron pan nearly as well as baking cornbread in it a few times. I was constantly reseasoning the pans until my wife started using them to make cornbread. I've never been able to get such a perfect finish, and believe me, I've tried many times.

 

[Maverick]

Couple of things to note in the article:

"Iron And Its Impact On Your Health" You won't get any iron benefit from the cast iron, kindly an urban myth that has never been proven with peer review. This was tested at one time several years ago, they heated oil in several cast irons and tested the oil after 8 hrs heating, they found no increase in iron.

"How Long Do These Pans Last" Yes they can crack, unlike carbon steel if you have them heated enough dry they can crack. This is common on electric ranges set to HIGH and nothing in the skillet. I never had a problem over coals or wood burner (fyi)

 

[Maverick]

BTW, I found out quite by accident that nothing seasons a cast iron pan nearly as well as baking cornbread in it a few times. I was constantly reseasoning the pans until my wife started using them to make cornbread. I've never been able to get such a perfect finish, and believe me, I've tried many times.

That's weird (having to reseasoning the cast) my last reseasoning was 3yrs ago. Though I strip them in a oven with self cleaning mode, that takes everything out of the cast giving a more even coating after the cleaning process. Though unlike the article seasoning time is 3hrs at 350degrees, the cast is coated inside, sides and bottom including the handle, the oils I use only are soybean oil or canola oil, I used to use lard but not good if storing the cast for long durations.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Got quite the collection of Lodge cast iron skillets and a Dutch oven. Got it used and seasoned for cheap. Most likely outlast me.

 

[Dani]

Second to youngest son borrowed my well seasoned cast iron skillet a couple years ago. . . have yet to see it come back even after we bought him one for Christmas. Those are priceless,

 

[Oddcaliber]

Still looking for a 6 quart with legs and lid. Need to get one.

 

[Dani]

Still looking for a 6 quart with legs and lid. Need to get one.

I found my spider over at an ACE M&D. It is nice to use for over the fire and camping,

 

[Maudite]

Still looking for a 6 quart with legs and lid. Need to get one.

Found one for two bucks at Good Will...waited till I was in the parking lot to do my happy dance

 

[Captjim_NM]

For cooking with an uneven heat source, nothing works as well as cast iron. We keep a tin of bacon greese in the frig and use only that to season the cast iron. Vegetable oils will not but build-up the coating to season cast iron, but it will keep it from rusting. In my camping gear I use cast iron despite the increased weight.

 

[GaRp58]

I have 3 cast iron frying pans, a 9 inch chili pot and a oval shaped broiler. Two other cast iron pots in different sizes with wooden handles rounds off my collection. Only bought half of them, the others were thrown away in the scrap metal at the junk yard from someone who had probably been given them for Christmas and never understood how to use them properly...and saved by me from being melted down. My wife cannot lift them, but lets me do that and absolutely loves the difference in flavors, how long food stays warm on the table and ease of cleaning. Great stuff and the hand-me-downs will stay in the family, GP

 

[Amish Heart]

I love cast iron cooking. We have a covered area patio outside our milkhouse and I've set that up permanently for cooking. I have two iron cooking tables that each hold 2 dutch ovens. Saves my back not cooking near the ground. Have the propane oven out there, too and a large propane griddle.

 

[Captjim_NM]

One of my dreams is an outdoor kitchen! A place to clean game and fish and fry/grill/smoke meat. Now I have an electric smoker and we use that about once a week. Add to that two Weber propane grills. When I lived in Texas I built a fish cleaning station with flood lights and water hose so I could clean 20 to 50 fish all hours of the day or night. I plan to build another of those fish cleaning stations at our place in New Mexico.

 

[Dani]

I love the even heat and when using an electric oven the pan evenly heats and you can cook on low.

 

[Amish Heart]

We set up a little differently when we're doing lots of fowl butchering, but I do have a sink table that the hose connects to. I like cooking outdoors, but don't barbeque much.

 

[Dani]

We set up a little differently when we're doing lots of fowl butchering, but I do have a sink table that the hose connects to. I like cooking outdoors, but don't barbeque much.

One of the best things hunny made for me was the outdoor sink hooked up to the well pump. I normally use this for washing off root crops from the garden before bringing in to process.

 

[GaRp58]

The neighbor occasionally looks over the fence to see what we are cooking again in the middle of the winter. He can smell the fire, the spices, the meats and veggies over the tripod, but he wants to know what it is this time again...we also use an enameled steel pot over the open fire when making the original hungarian gulasch out back. No sticking to the enamel also and easy to clean. We usually leave the soot on the bottom of the pots there to further prevent any rust...am I doing something wrong? Anybody made any bad experiences doing this?

 

[Acdoctor]

I helped an older man demolish an old house on some land he purchased, as we were tearing out the cabinets I found a 5qt cast iron deep fryer with a wire basket. It had been in the old house for at least 12 years with a leaking roof and no heat, I took the fryer down to my shop and bead blasted all the rust off, seasoned it and now it’s as good as it ever was. I’m glad to have it in my collection of cast iron.

 

[Amish Heart]

I don't know if it's wrong, but I clean mine out well of food, then take some oil and wipe it down. Olive oil, lard, whatever you have.

 

[Acdoctor]

That will work but I use bacon grease or grape seed oil, almost any oil that you can build layers with will keep it some what non stick.

 

[kevin321]

I use avocado oil since it has a very high smoke point. One of, if not the highest, I believe.

 

[Dani]

It was two years before I got my seasoned skillet back. . . OMGoodness! I so missed it!!! Can even cook scrambled eggs with no stick.

 

[Schattentarn]

A military surplus store in my town sells all manner of cast iron cookware. It is durable and lasts a lifetime.

 

[GaRp58]

Just last week I decided to give the lady next door one of my skillets. Cast iron with an enamel bottom and a wooden removable handle, real unusual pan that I found in a second hand shop for $3...she was very surprised and the only word I understood in her talking to my wife was the word "expensive". Hope she likes it and can hand-me-down it for her kids some day. GP

 

[Kevin L]

I love cooking with cast iron.

I have a Lodge cast iron wok that is one of my most prized posessions.

I like to cook Chinese food, and a cast iron wok works very well.

I usually cook and season with cold-pressed grapeseed oil, as grapeseed oil doesn't seem to scorch and turn black like corn oil and/or safflower oil.

I don't trust Teflon cookware. There are a million and one cautions about pet birds (like parrots) dying from fumes simply by being in the same room as a Teflon pan. See link below:

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/teflon-polytetrafluoroethylene-poisoning-in-birds
So, my point is this: Why would any reasonable person want to eat food that was cooked in a pan that gives off a toxin that kills birds almost as quickly as nerve gas? That people would do so doesn't sound reasonable.

So there is something that I'm obviously missing.

 

[Petoski]

There is probably a decent business in finding dirty old cast iron cookware in the abandoned homes in the Finnish countryside where i am, cleaning them up and selling them to city folk. I found 2 pans and a big pot with a lid in the wood shed when I moved in to our house. Cleaned them up with some vinegar and a wire brush and then reseasoned them. After a few weeks of use we were converted and got rid of all the modern crap ones.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Since an while i came away from using Teflon - coated cooking ware. Not one of them was really lasting long, the coating was going off fast always.
For daily use i got now stainless steel pots or email-coatet pans. Both make kind me happy and are easy to clean.
As well i own and use cast iron pots, two of them emailled as well, one is an casserole and the other one is for Fondue (Swiss love to melt cheese). An smaller iron pan i use for outdoors. Important for me was i can use them on an camp fire as well like at an gas or fuel burner and on my induction.