Due to heat dispersal, the older cast irons are considered far better than the newer ones produced in China. There is one other attribute with using cast versus any other pan available that has not been mentioned as of yet. Cast iron is extremely porous and once properly seasoned, it's better than a coated pan and can be cleaned by a simple rinse out with warm water. Note: I didn't add soap in the cleaning process. Again, it goes back to the seasoning process which for me, takes about 6 hours. 4 hours of cooking garlic, salt (other herbs and spices too if the pan's use warrants it) and oil into the pores. Then, whilst watching a movie or something, rubbing salt and oil into the pan with a 3-m pad or rag for an additional 2 hours. No, the rubbing part doesn't have to be done all at once but can be accomplished in whatever time frame someone has. The cooking part fills the pores, and the rubbing part also help fill pores whilst getting rid of any sharp edges around them. After use, I just rinse a pan out and use a 3-m pad if necessary for anything that is stubborn, dry it on a warm stove and then rub in some oil and garlic. Through time and use, each cast iron pot and pan pick up a character of their own in that they are well seasoned for whatever general use they have been doing. Italian seasonings will carry over into the next pot of spaghetti sauce, a roux will carry over to the next roux etc, giving each preparation the infused effect that only time and slow cooking can generally produce. Of course, that type of cooking calls for more than one cast one pan or pot. The bean pot is for beans, the chicken pan for chicken and gravy, the breakfast pan is for breakfast (bacon and basted eggs) etc.............. About the soap? One drop of soap is all it takes to destroy years of good food preparation in a cast iron skillet.
I would look at the $135 price as an indication that it might be one of the few good ones that are still being made. I find cast iron to be the best and, though it took her a while to get used to it, my wife does too. She knows more about it than I do, largely because she sold a collection of hundreds of them for someone who had them in his garage. So she learned how to condition them, what they are worth, and so on. I simply cook with them, and cooking things like eggs in a cast-iron skillet is easier than in a so-called no-stick metal pan. Cleaning is a breeze although, since I am the one who usually does the dishes, there are times when I use soap, although you're not supposed to. Having been previously conditioned, they can be reconditioned easily enough as long as they're not left to sit wet.
Me neither! I have heard that you shouldn't use plastic containers at all according to some. Even the BPA free ones. This could be going a little far and I take lunches to work both in plastic containers and plastic bags. I don't heat anything though. Everything stays cold. I've bought some glass Pyrex but still use plastic containers to store leftovers. I don't put them in the plastic though until cooled.
For plates and bowls, my preference is paper because I compost them, and I am the one who would be doing the dishes otherwise. When paper is not appropriate, I prefer ceramic. We have a few plastic bowls around, and I might use them for cold cereal but not much else.
These aren't the same brand that we have but they look like this. My wife bought an indoor grilling pan and press, which came as a set, I think, or at least the press fits the pan as if it were. The press is heavy cast iron, while the pan is made of something else, but still looks pretty durable. Setting the pan across two burners on the stove, it allows us to grill steaks or hamburgers indoors. It is particularly good for hamburgers, as the appearance and taste are of one that has been cooked on a grill. Rather than being the same size, as pictured here, the pan is the length of a little more than two of the presses. We should probably get a second press, although it works well enough to move it from one to the other while cooking two burgers at a time. It's very quick and good.
We now have his and her sets of cooking pans. We have a nice heavy set of cooking pans that we got 5-6 years ago, but they are really heavy, and I had gradually picked up some lighter weight pans over time. Some were the lightweight stainless steel, which I really like unless something gets burned accidentally, and some were teflon non-stick ones. Then, Robin gave us that nice Copper Chef electric skillet, and I just loved how easy it was to clean out after cooking something in it. I think that it does have copper in it, but the inside is a ceramic finish. I found a set on close out on Amazon that were ceramic , but not the copper color , which doesn’t really make any difference when cooking anyway; so I ordered the set. Bobby still prefers his heavy set of pans, but I really like the ceramic ones because they are both lightweight, and easy to clean........ just rinse and wipe out with a soapy cloth, and then rinse again, and it is done.
When we married over 40 years ago, I used almost exclusively cast iron pans. My little wife had difficulty handling them, so we got stainless steel for her. We have gone through a dozen or more sets of cookware over the years including sets of non-stick stuff. She uses her copper chef stuff now (as do I) but I still have the same cast iron cookware I bought 50 years ago. Each has their uses, but I like using steel spatulas and such, and we have found that that shortens the life of any non-stick cookware, ceramic or not.
I have seen all kinds of pots listed as "bean pots", @Ken Anderson. Some are what I would call a "Dutch Oven" and some I would call a "Chicken cooker" (pot with horizontal handle). I think the original "bean pot" was developed in New England in Colonial days and it was taller and narrower than a conventional dutch oven and general used for baking beans. There was also a "Cowboy Bean Pot" that was designed to be hung from a tripod over an open fire. Which kind do you have?
It has a raised edge so you could put coals on it if you were cooking over a fire, but not as raised as the ones with three legs designed for a campfire.