I don't buy these. I buy white felt squares at Joanne's Fabrics for 25 cents and use these and wash them. They fit the swiffer sweeper head and can be washed and reused many times.

You can't use tomatoes in cast iron pans? C'mon...I only agree with going "eco friendly" only if it sames me money, time and doesn't make my life harder. The fact that I can't use soap on a pan after I cooked raw chicken and eggs makes me sick to my stomach....

I do agree on the Swiffer mops...I still use the swiffer duster, because one box of refills has lasted me over a year (you don't have to change them often) I stopped using the mop though after we bought a house with all wood floors. It's great for a small apartment (with one linoleum floor, no point in making a huge mop bucket) but when you have a lot of wood floors, you go through the refills often and it doesn't seem to clean as well.

Everyone says you can't use soap on the pans, but I always have, and my mother, and my grandmother. We live in the south in the country and you don't find a home without an assortment of iron skillets. We have no problem using the soap. These things are indestructible. You can find rusty ones at flea markets and take it home, season it up, and they are good as new.

For the best cornbread that won't ever stick, use the same iron skillet everytime and only wipe it out instead of washing with soap. Only use for cornbread and you will have the best tasting cornbread in town. Other than that go to town with the soap, it won't hurt a thing as long as you dry after washing.

Thanks for putting a smile on my face. Your style makes frugality that much less boring!

You want to double up your savings and save time? Just use a reel mower! Works your forearms and legs, saves time going to the gym, and gives you a nice lawn.

You feel like you've accomplished something, too.

Never had a problem with tomatoes, either. And if I did, I'd just reseason it. Big deal! Seasoning a pan is pretty easy once you know how. And I find that bacon grease and hot, hot temps is the key. Vegetable oil doesn't work as well, imho. It leaves it too sticky.

Amber,

The key word there is *cooked*. If you *cook* raw chicken and eggs then they aren't raw anymore. Your pan should be plenty hot to kill pathogens -- otherwise you probably shouldn't even be eating the chicken. (Raw eggs don't scare me, but then mine come from the backyard and not some disease infested chicken factory.)

Also, if you're worried that your pan didn't get hot enough in some places, just stick it in the oven till you're satisfied. Add a little bacon grease and you can reseason it at the same time if you need to.

See, why would I use cast iron pans? All this talk of re-seasoning and putting it in the oven, washing etc etc, when my non stick pans - I cook and I stick it in water and everything washes off quick and easy. I don't have extra time to be doing 500 steps for one pan.

Spend the money and buy a good quality stainless pan. They are bomb proof, and with minimal care they will last for many generations.

If you get one with a high-ish side (say 2 inches), and a lid, it can also double as a stew pot, vegie steamer, etc.

You can use your bread machine for more than bread. Use it as a mini oven to bake things like vegetables or whatever, even a chicken or a roast if you eat meat.

All you need is a pan that will fit in the machine and something to rest the pan on so it is above, and not resting on, the heating elements.

I put a small pyrex dish in the bottom of the bread machine to act as a spacer (to keep the pot I am cooking with above the heating element) and then just set it to bake at whatever temperature I want. I suspect it is more energy efficient and less expensive than firing up the oven for a single dish.

I have made baked roasted rice this way in a covered round metal pan (used to have a handle but that fell off years ago) and it worked fantastically. Also I baked an entire butternut squash last week. Pressure cooker would be even more efficient for the squash, though.

I love my 9" cast iron skillet that I got at a garage sale many years ago! I mostly use it for eggs (a little butter on medium heat, can be turned off when partially cooked because the pan retains heat so well it will finish cooking) on my glass top electric stove. I always wash out my pan with hot water and a little soap and simply dry with a dish towel. How simple can it get. Of course it was well seasoned when I got it. By the way, I am 61 years old and healthy.
I have stainless steel pans for cooking other things. Oh, and the iron skillet makes great cornbread in the oven. I melt butter in it before I pour the batter in and it makes a nice crispy crust. What a fun discussion you've got going here. My son suggested I check it out.

because I just had to comment about cast iron not actually needing special handling, but which is actually more important.

I spent YEARS trying to get used to using the crock pot, and it's just not very good for healthy cooking. I do use it once or twice a week when it's cold out, but the thing that really made scratch cooking easier and faster for us was a pressure cooker and a good pressure cooker cookbook. We literally use the thing every day, it doesn't heat up my kitchen as much in the summer, it is good for vegetarian and lower-fat foods (risotto! squash cooked so you can just eat the skin!) and took a lot of the pre-cooking steps, like soaking beans, out of our routine.

I am giving pressure cookers to a bunch of newly-learning-to-cook relatives for Christmas this year (we got ours last year, for Christmas).

Oh, cast iron pans! Will you ever be understood?

My wife and I were given expensive, high quality, heavy gauge stainless steel pots and pans when we got married. We've bought a few cast iron pans. We use the cast iron almost exclusively because they are easier to use and to clean, and because food cooked in them tastes better. It's not any more steps than stainless - in fact it's less*. And where some of our "stainless" pieces actually have stains from too high heat or being left unattended too long, the cast iron is pretty much indestructible.

If you're at all curious, pick up a small cast iron skillet at the local MegaMart for $20 or less. Most or all now are pre-seasoned - get one of those. Give it a few tries, get used to it, and get some flavor in it - don't try to burn anything, but don't worry about it if you do. Try bacon and eggs, easy and tasty. After each use, wipe it out with an oily paper towel - to remove any remaining food chunks and refresh the seasoning a bit. Don't wash it, but if really necessary you can run it through some very hot water and scrub it with anything - but no soap. Then swipe with the oily towel once the pan is dry.* Pretty soon you'll love it - or you'll pass it on to someone else who will.

P.S. Here's a tip for eggs and meat, for cast iron or stainless: Heat your pan to the temperature you're going to cook at - should be pretty hot. Add room-temp oil immediately before the proteiny food. If you flip, flip once - not until the first side is done; you'll be able to tell because it will unstick itself from the pan. Give it a little test poke at an edge, when it's ready to be flipped it will go from stuck tight to easily scoopable.

*Our schedule, when using a cast iron skillet once each day, is roughly: after enjoying our meal, we wipe out the now-just-warm pan to remove food chunks. About every other time or so, we pour in a very small pool of olive or vegetable oil and smear around with a paper towel or rag. About every week (again, given using it every day) we'll wash the pan by scrubbing under very hot water, no soap. Dry well and while still warm from the wash, do the oil thing. Overall, very low maintenance, especially compared to our stainless, which we have to scrub each time (even if they're going into a dishwasher), sometimes using special cleaner.

I send my anemic patients out to the thrift store to buy a cast iron skillet and start cooking. I have to admit I have to use hot soapy water to clean it. These skillets are great and they are easy to maintain. No longer do you have to worry about ingesting byproducts of Teflon.

One common misconception about dusters is that they move the dust around. This is true if you have inferior feathers. However, ostrich feathers do pick up the dust and hold it. My favorite demonstration is to run an ostrich feather duster over a chalkboard and then shake the duster out (outside, of course).

I make my own Swiffer covers that do a much better job of grabbing pet hair off the floor. I found the pattern on the internet; it's a simple crochet pattern that can be made with leftover yarn.

One thing I love about my cast iron is not having to think twice about putting these pans in the oven. I never have to worry if something is going to melt off. I purchased some excellent French cast iron pans from IKEA a few years ago.

I love my cast iron pans and I avoid non-stick as much as possible which is why I haven't bought a bread machine yet, since all of them have non-stick pans. Does anyone know of a bread machine that has a safer material pan? Or a replacement pan that I can buy. I really, really want a bread machine!!! TIA
PS. I scrub my well seasoned pans with soap. However, I don't scrub my iron wok but do use soap.