help needed finding teflon substitute....

[Ladychaos]

Well I finally purchased my budgies from petco. They are already sort of tamed. Meaning they won't bite you or fly around the cage when your hand comes near them. But I am having a hard time finding pots and pans that are decent but not teflon. Me and my boyfriend are moving out of my mom's house into our own apartment and we need to buy pots and pans. My boyfriend loves to cook so pans and pots that won't have food burning and sticking is really important to him. But it is important to me to have cookware that won't possibly create deadly fumes and kill my new fids. The bird's names are Amadeus and Mozart. Mozart has a pretty teal color. Once we get the laptop up and running I will take some pictures. Any links or store locations and names would be wonderful. We are located in Stockton, CA and are moving to Lodi, CA so any stores carrying specialty pots and pans with no teflon that will not cause food to stick and burn are a must. Please help before I drive my boyfriend crazy thanks all!

[poi_lover]

Cast iron pans work great to keep stuff from sticking. You have to occasionally "cure" the pan. You can look on the internet for info on how to care for them. Don't wash them in the dishwasher or you will remove the protective coating. I find they work much better than stainless steel. You can get them just about anywhere...Target, Walmart, etc. My large skillet was just over $20.

[Dustin]

It is an ongoing battle for us to find non-stick bird safe cookware.

The only thing i can suggest is cast iron or Stainless. It takes some time getting used to cooking with them.

[Ladychaos]

I will tell john about it and hope he agrees. Otherwise I will have to find a way to get rid of the pans while he sleeps lol.

[The Outlaw]

I have found that the biggest trouble with cooks and fry pans is cooking eggs. You really need lots of butter or oil when you cook in stainless or cast iron. I come from a generation that didn't know what the heck Teflon was, so I grew up knowing how to use cast iron. It isn't really properly seasoned until it turns black. Then it has enough baked on grease in the pores to work like non stick.

A second thought is to consider an older Farberware electric skillet. The stainless steel is so smooth, stuff rarely sticks. Again, you need to use cooking oil or some other fat. There isn't a no stick Pam that's really gonna work on cast iron.

Make sure to pr-heat your pan before you add eggs or bacon. Failure to do so will absolutely guarantee sticky baked on eggs.

[Zoe's Mom]

Another tip is to let your eggs come to room temp before you cook them in a pre-heated pan to help keep then from sticking.

[Ladychaos]

you guys are wonderful! keep tips coming! perfect ^.^ I think stainless steel is the way we are going.

[radiogirl995]

Isn't hardened anodized cookware ok?

[jamieo]

When cooking with stainless steel pans, one thing you can to to help prevent sticking is to heat the pan before you put in any oil. Heating the pan causes the metal to expand and it will close up some of the tiny openings in the cooking surface. That helps make the surface smoother and helps to prevent sticking. Be careful not to overheat the pan, however, just warm it up.

[birdscomefirst]

Hi,
I don't usually reccommend something (I usually point out the dangers) BUT... I saw a set of Stainless steel pots at COSTCO yesterday that was actually very good. I think the name was something close to Tramontina. It was not Kirkland. The set was $89.99 . For inexpensive stainless, the set was excellent. It had the heavy type bottoms suitable for glass top stoves. (Of course they can be used on a regular burner as well) In any case, they were not bad. This is a link to something that will give you the idea of what the stuff is like.

http://tramontina.125west.com/

Bill