I stopped using nonstick after hearing about the health issues they can cause. I remember my mother buying nonstick and eventually they peel and the coating flakes. I shudder to think about how much coating I ingested from them because my mother would just say it’s no big deal as black flecks of coating would end up in the food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don’t cook with non-stick, don’t store food in plastic, and never put plastic steam bags or takeout containers in the microwave. It’s not a question of wealth, but awareness. We’ve had the same Pyrex, stainless, and cast iron for over 15 years.

+1.

+2, and we cook eggs on cast iron, they never stick. If your pans are seasoned and you use "hot pan, cold oil" technique, nothing will stick.

So get the cast iron hot, then add your hi heat tolerant oil, heat that up, then add your egg or whatever, and nothing sticks?

We just use EVOO but yes. The pan/oil don't have to get so hot that the oil smokes.

Our eggs slide around the pan. Cast iron properly seasoned behaves like non stick.

I hate cast iron because it's so heavy. Cast iron is definitely not my go-to.

With stainless, to make it nonstick, you heat it until a drop of water forms a "mercury ball" travels around the pan, like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=OFc0Yb1oIc4

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want no sticking? Use some butter and oil.

That kind of negates the argument that people use stainless steel for health reasons.

What’s wrong with evoo or avocado oil?

The PP referenced butter. Not sure non-stick is a greater risk to your health than high cholesterol.

Oh FFS, a little butter in the pan is not going to hurt anyone.

Butter (and saturated fat) is actually making a huge comeback in wellness circles right now as some experts are beginning to cast doubt on the previous studies associating it with poor cardiac health. The reason is that no study has properly isolated the impact of seed oils vs butter. So you will see a lot of the health nuts who were eating vegan 10 yrs ago are now having bacon and eggs and claiming that high quality saturated fat is totally fine. It is an interesting theory but I don’t think there’s any research to support it yet.

I don’t recommend gambling with heart health so I am not going overboard by any means based off of theories and trends. But I now keep grassfed butter in the fridge and we go through maybe 2 or 3 sticks per month (family of four). I primarily use it with eggs, toast, and for Sunday pancakes. After cooking with just oil for years, I’m now remembering that butter is absolutely delicious! I still prefer to cook meats and veggies in oil but I heartily endorse a little butter every now and then, and I am hoping there will some day be some scientific reason to eat even more

To answer the original question, I make seven figures and own no teflon. The pans look gross after three uses.

Anonymous wrote:I am UMC and I don't think its a class thing but a general health/interest in cooking thing.

I cook on stainless steel like 90% of the time. Some cast irons for niche jobs. And I have one single nonstick pan I use primarily to cook eggs. And we have a nonstick griddle that came with the stove that my husband treats like a small infant that he uses to make pancakes.

I considered getting rid of all my non-stick pans (and am gradually replacing them), but I'm unwilling to use the amount of fat that you'd need to keep eggs or pancakes from sticking. I might try ceramic the next time a non-stick pan needs replacing.

I would never use a non-stick pan for eggs or anything else.

Anonymous wrote:We use them, but we also discard them when they get the slightest nick in them.

My stomach can't handle the amount of oil needed to get things to cook properly in stainless steel pans without tearing up.

We do most of our cooking in our cast irons but the teens are banned from using those after an unfortunate dishwasher incident.

We don't have any plasticware, though. No plastic containers, cups/plates/bowls/etc. Everything for storage/reheating is glass.

Were you born knowing what can go in the dishwasher and what can't? Have you never made a mistake and put something in the dishwasher you shouldn't have? No mistakes from you ever? "Banned"

"nonstick pans seem to be safe to cook with if used correctly at moderate temperatures."


From
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-nonstick-pan/#pfas-compounds-and-other-sustainability-concerns

The full discussion:


PFAS compounds and other sustainability concerns
Many people are concerned that using nonstick cookware is dangerous to their health. The issue is complicated, and we’ll get into the details below. But in broad strokes: PTFE is made using chemicals that could cause a variety of health issues if, for instance, they enter your water supply. However, as noted by the American Cancer Society, the chemicals are barely present, if at all, in the final PTFE product coating your nonstick pan. So as far as we know, PTFE is safe to cook with, especially over medium and low heat. (We don’t recommend using pans with this coating over searing high heat, since it can degrade the PTFE, releasing fumes that are toxic enough to kill birds.) People working in or living near factories that manufacture PTFE, however, could be at risk.

PTFE coatings get their questionable reputation from a time when they were produced using either PFOA or PFOS, which are (along with PTFE itself) part of a larger group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). You may have seen PFOA and PFOS in the news due to the harm they’ve caused as pollutants. Sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals,” they linger in the environment and the body for a long time, and they’ve been linked to a number of health issues (PDF), including cancer.

Nonstick coatings in the US are no longer produced using PFOA or PFOS. Manufacturers phased out both chemicals in the mid 2010s and replaced them with other PFAS, including GenX chemicals (a replacement for PFOA from Chemours, the maker of Teflon) and PFBS (a PFOS replacement manufactured by 3M). In theory, these newer, shorter-chain PFAS compounds are safer than PFOA and PFOS because they break down faster and therefore may not remain in the environment or bloodstream as long.

But the new PFAS compounds haven’t been in use long enough for us to know whether they have long-term effects on humans who are exposed to them. And studies in animals already show that the newer PFAS may still pose risks. The EPA reports that, “following oral exposure [in animals] ... GenX chemicals have been linked to health effects on the liver, the kidney, the immune system, and developmental effects, as well as cancer. PFBS has been linked to health effects on the thyroid, reproductive system, development, and kidney.”

The EPA under the current administration seems to be concerned about PFAS as a whole, and it says it is working to research these compounds more thoroughly. As of June 2022, the EPA has issued an interim updated health advisory (PDF) on PFOA and PFOS in drinking water, significantly lowering the level at which water is considered to be contaminated. At the same time, it issued a new health advisory for GenX and PFBS (although at higher doses than the health advisory for PFOA and PFOS). The agency has also proposed designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also known as CERCLA or Superfund), which would in part hold companies accountable for cleaning up PFOA and PFOS pollution.

All of which is to say that nonstick pans seem to be safe to cook with if used correctly at moderate temperatures. But there is real reason to be concerned about all PFAS as a pollutant, even if the newer ones appear to be less risky. There’s also a lot we don’t know, including which steps individual manufacturers are currently taking to protect their workers or prevent PFAS from entering the water supply. If that concerns you, there are PTFE-free cookware options that naturally develop nonstick qualities.

People keep saying that educated people don't use non-stick because they understand health risks, yet there is virtually no study that indicates exposure to these chemicals through the home cooking process poses a risk to human health (sure, if you scraped it all off and dusted your food with it, I'm sure that would not be good). Human exposure risks to these chemicals are more likely to occur through inhalation by workers at the factories or contaminated water supplies. So, while the production of nonstick cookware causes environmental contamination and health concerns, using these pans at home has been estimated by many studies to have no measurable effect on health.

Anonymous wrote:You have to use a lot of butter on a steel pan when making eggs. It’s so annoying. And it’s still a chore to clean after.

Once you've built up a nice seasoning on a cast iron pan, it behaves like non-stick. I agree that steel pans are a pain.

I am UMC and I don't think its a class thing but a general health/interest in cooking thing.

I cook on stainless steel like 90% of the time. Some cast irons for niche jobs. And I have one single nonstick pan I use primarily to cook eggs. And we have a nonstick griddle that came with the stove that my husband treats like a small infant that he uses to make pancakes.

Anonymous wrote:fry some bacon in cast iron and then add eggs. it wont stick.

My kids and husband want eggs 5 or 6 days a week. I’m not frying bacon and/or bacon grease every morning for eggs. Everyone would stink every time we left the house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Want no sticking? Use some butter and oil.

That kind of negates the argument that people use stainless steel for health reasons.

What’s wrong with evoo or avocado oil?

The PP referenced butter. Not sure non-stick is a greater risk to your health than high cholesterol.

Oh FFS, a little butter in the pan is not going to hurt anyone.

We use them, but we also discard them when they get the slightest nick in them.

My stomach can't handle the amount of oil needed to get things to cook properly in stainless steel pans without tearing up.

We do most of our cooking in our cast irons but the teens are banned from using those after an unfortunate dishwasher incident.

We don't have any plasticware, though. No plastic containers, cups/plates/bowls/etc. Everything for storage/reheating is glass.