Cast iron skillets @ Wallyworld...worth the price?

Discussion in 'Functional Gear & Equipment' started by natshare, Jan 1, 2017.


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  1. natshare

    natshare Monkey+++

    You know, it's funny. I'm the type of person who will generally look for the best price, before buying anything (best bang for the buck, actually)....but am skeptical, when I see something that seems TOO good of a price! LOL

    These are normally $20, for 3 cast iron skillets, on clearance sale now, for $15. My question is, are they worth even that much? Guaranteed, these were made by the C.H.INA company, which is oftentimes the first strike against buying something!

    The finer print, on the side of the box, says "Pre-seasoned with natural plant oil", "Durable and long lasting", "Use indoors or out" (well, THAT'S a plus!), and the sizes of the skillets, one each of 8", 10.5" and 12" diameter.

    So what say you guys & gals? cast iron at Wallyworld.
     
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  2. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    Well it's pretty hard to screw up cast iron.
     
    M118LR, marlas1too, Ura-Ki and 2 others like this.
  3. Oltymer

    Oltymer Monkey++

    I've had good and bad cast iron and would tend to steer clear of China made stuff. I think you would do better with old and used US made. The best I ever had was French, it was old and was coated in baked enamel - Wow that pan was amazing! I'm using an old 5" Griswold right now that I inherited, and it's about 80 years old, works great.

    I had some new made cast iron a few years ago that was "pre seasoned" and everything stuck like crazy in it until I seasoned it myself. Winter is the perfect time to season cast iron as the extra heat is welcome in the home.
     
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  4. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    I'm not so sure about the "natural plant oil" seasoning....I get the impression that the cookware has actually been seasoned with the sweat of the production workers. :rolleyes:
     
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  5. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Pre-seasoned is largely hooey. All it is out of the box, is an non-toxic rust prevention. I'm admittedly prejudiced against Chinese castings, but they do have good products sometimes. I'm much more enthusiastic about Indian castings; the chances of voids in the castings is much lower. As always, YMMV and you get what you pay for.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2017
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  6. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    $15.00 for three pans. What a deal. Chance are they are garbage and not for the long term but good pans to go in your camping gear or for use on the grill. Season them yourself, like the people above said, Chinese cast iron is not something I would expect to be quality. For everyday cooking, I suggest spending he money. It is an investment but I does not go bad if cared for.
     
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  7. Monty

    Monty Monkey+++

    I have to agree, I wouldn't buy the Chinese made cast iron. I would look at a second hand store, rumage sales, maybe crraigslist.
    I like cooking on cast iron, great over an open fire.
    When i was younger my mom used to have me scrub the pans clean all the time, it was only when I got older and asked her for them did I learn about seasoning the pans.
    I read in backwoods home magazine about seasoning pans, coated them with Crisco then putting the pans in he oven at low heat ( I think it was 200 degrees for an hour but I'm not sure.) It worked great, we took them on multiple camping outings and the food just taste better each time.
     
  8. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Am 78 am still using my grand mothers cast iron pans. May have been made before 1900, don't know about china ones, but old US ones last for ever if you respect them and season them. Difficult, but you can screw them up. Don't really know of any way to tell but to try them, but I would not buy them and put away for after TSTF, as they may or may not be good. But that should be true of all your preps. You don't really know what is going to happen until you have tried most of to days goods out.
     
  9. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Two words for the best in cast iron pans: garage sale.
     
  10. azrancher

    azrancher Monkey +++

    My Wallyworld has Lodge cast iron, not sure it's still made here or not.

    Rancher

    I just bought a cast iron tortilla maker, made in Columbia, should be good for SHTF and we are raising Dent Corn.

    Rancher
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2017
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  11. Mindgrinder

    Mindgrinder Karma Pirate Ninja|RIP 12-25-2017

    for the price...buy a couple....
    i'd soakem in vinegar over night, salt and peanut oil them and throw'em in the oven on high till the smoke alarm goes off to get rid of the "pre-seasoned" garbage....then have at'em with a good cut of meat to see if they're crap or not.
     
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  12. T. Riley

    T. Riley Monkey+++

  13. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson Monkey+++

    We have a china cast dutch oven, a total piece of crap. I don't remember if it came from wally ot HF, but either way it is not a good thing. We have probably 6 or so Lodge pieces from wally, made in the USA, all good cookware. MY 12" fry pan (my bacon pan) is abused, lives out under the hood of the gas grill, and is the best fry pan ever. The DW takes much better care of her pans, and loves them. Lodge is not that expensive, considering that you only have to buy it once and your great grand kids should be cooking on it one day.

    The gas grill is also a great way to season pans without setting off the smoke alarm.
     
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  14. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Definitely yard sales!
    Also, just asking around the neighborhood. Plenty of people with this stuff in their attic or basement and they never plan to use it.

    This is the pinnacle of cast iron cookware, FYI:
    DSC00067.JPG
     
  15. Sgt Nambu

    Sgt Nambu RIP 4/19/2018

    Plus 1 for the Lodge brand. Never fail, we have a full set, including a 9qt Dutch Oven!
     
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  16. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Another fan of the Lodge brand, very high quality casting and the pre seasoning doesn't take much prep to get it running well.
     
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  17. fmhuff

    fmhuff Monkey+++

    I've only used older cast iron that has a very smooth surface compared to newer offerings from lodge etc. My question is this; what difference in performance and usability does it make as far as cooking goes? One could quite conceivably, if they wanted to machine polish to smooth cooking surface the newer pans if any advantage could be had.

    I really like using cast iron for frying since it truly is generational in it's performance. Just about everything else wears out rather quickly by comparison.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2017
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  18. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    I don't know if it the quality of the metal or the art of the casting, but the old Lodge, Griswold, French, etc, cast iron seems to have a finer grain, be less porous, and to be easier to season or clean. It is a lot more than how smooth it is polished, seems to be the metal itself. No matter what they try to tell you, it does seem to make a difference if an item is made with pride by craftsmen for a company that cares rather than trying to make something that looks like a classic item as cheaply as possible with slave labor. I especially notice that in the classic hand tools, hoes, axes, saws, wood drill bits, sand shovels, spading forks, knives, kerosene lamps etc. Tend to buy good name non China stuff and bite the bullet on price or go to the antique shops, good will stores, yard or estate sales and try to find the old stuff that was made well and has stood the test of time..
    fmhuff I also like cooking on something that has a surface that is iron and the "trace elements" that come off in the cooking or God forbid, if you overheat it, are iron, and not as with a "modern" non stick surface a known carcinogen and known to cause genetic damage in rats. Your mileage may vary, but so far I find being very paranoid in adopting a lot of the new drugs, materials, life styles, latest fads,etc, has contributed to my reaching 78 and being of reasonably sound mind and body,
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2017
  19. marlas1too

    marlas1too Monkey+++

    I have a huge supply of cast iron cookware and I found a supply of lids locally for all of them
     
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  20. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    If it isn't good, thick cast iron I would not buy it. I dint care about brand names, just quality.
     
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