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I have a nonstick (i.e., PTFE-based) skillet which I need to replace. I make egg and cheese omelets every morning with no extra oil/butter, so nonstick seems to "serve up and clean up" the easiest of all materials.

But, it seems wasteful to buy a new pan every year. Is there an alternative environmentally-friendly pan which could give me, for example, 10 years still without the need for oil/butter?

Ceramic coatings and anodized aluminum come to mind, but they are a little bit stickier and seem to have about the same lifetime anyway.

I suppose a "master chef" could cook just cheese in an iron skillet without oil - Should I be practicing this if I really want to save the environment? Even if I perfect this art, the clean up is probably a little worse with the iron skillet, but I suppose this might be the best solution.

Rob
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bobuhito
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  • Welcome to SA! While we appreciate your interest in alternate cookware, environmentalism is off-topic for this SE. Also, questions about alternative nonstick have been asked (and answered) multiple times before, particularly this one: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/45519/options-for-non-stick-frying-pans-not-using-teflon/45522#45522 – FuzzyChef Nov 10 '21 at 05:38
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    Also ... if you're replacing your teflon pans every year, you're clearly abusing them. Teflon pans should last 3-5 years. – FuzzyChef Nov 10 '21 at 05:39
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    @FuzzyChef According to the link I referenced in my question, daily use only allows 1 or 2 years. Anyway, my question is basically looking for a longer-lasting pan - I now assume that there isn't one based on your comments. So, you're saying that I should just keep buying nonstick pans every 1 or 2 years...but I wish this question could be left open to see if anyone has a better idea. – bobuhito Nov 10 '21 at 07:27
  • Sorry, but not liking the answers in a duplicate target is no reason for a question to stay open. If somebody knows a different answer, they can post it under the other question. – rumtscho Nov 10 '21 at 08:43
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    A couple of notes: (i) The master chef *would* use oil/butter if cooking an omelette, but could do so in a stainless pan. Maybe not much but commercial cooking is very willing to use oil. You may need just a smear of oil (don't use cooking spray for this as it tends to polymerise on the pan and make a mess). (ii) My non-stick frying pan is mainly used for omelettes, and that does seem to age it faster than other things (but I often fry some veg first, reserve, and put in the omelette with cheese before folding in half for the last minute or so, meaning extra use of a not very full pan) – Chris H Nov 10 '21 at 09:14
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    And for non-stick in general, I tend to only use mine if it would be really beneficial, going for stainless or enamelled cast iron if I can. That makes the non stick last much longer (my non stick saucepans are as good as new after about 6 years) – Chris H Nov 10 '21 at 09:19
  • Perhaps this would be a suitable question for https://sustainability.stackexchange.com/? – Dave Nov 10 '21 at 09:21
  • @bobuhito Well, I'm not ATK, but FWIW I buy Vollrath SteelCoat teflon pans, and cook on them around 5X week, and they last us for 3-5 years before they need replacement. I'm going to add that to the other question. – FuzzyChef Nov 10 '21 at 17:37

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