Save. Spend. Splurge.
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Ask Sherry: What are some reasonably priced pots & pans to buy?

You asked, and I am answering every Friday once I have enough questions!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DKFg6SD0Kmb_0U5yb4OTNfkvfmsf5dWxJJbZTzUtH7M/edit

You can ask any question using the form here.

Hi Sherry, were you born in Canada?

No, I was not.

Are you happy to be raising your son in Canada?

Yes. I think it is one of the best countries in the world given all the other options. I’m talking about economic factors, whether the country is at peace or not, job opportunities, general well-being, education, healthcare, etc.

Of course it’s not perfect. No country is. I do complain a lot, but overall, it is 90% good. It is the right country for us, given all the other choices out there.

Sorry if my questions are a bit domestic; hope you don’t mind them 🙂

Never! 🙂 I love answering domestic ones, because.. I honestly do not talk about them or think about it often. I like that sometimes I get questions that really do stick in my brain all week and I like that.

1. You mention baby bun use life factory bottles to drink milk.

Yes, he does.

Does he use the one with nipples on them or the normal one?

He uses the ones with the nipple on it, flow 2 I think.

Not the “X” one because it flows very quickly.

The reason why he still drinks it out of a bottle with a nipple and not with a cup, is because he has a tendency to gulp milk down, and we have noticed it has given him indigestion because milk is actually a bit of a liquid – solid kind of food. You’re not suppose to really drink milk like a liquid, you’re supposed to chew it. I know it sounds weird but that’s the reason why we try to make the flow of milk slower for him to drink so that he doesn’t get indigestion.

If the normal one, can you let me know which one please ?

There is a normal one that is the sippy-cup cover which we give to him for water as a cover on his existing bottles.

http://amzn.to/2yVDHBS

Trying to wean off toddler from drinking milk from nippled bottles (if that’s the right term…) to normal drinking bottle (he drink from cup at meals but sometimes make a mess so bottles it is) but everything I try so far (primarily plastic mind you) is so hard to clean and leave some smelly residue if milk not finished and I didn’t clean until day after.

You want to know our trick? We put the bottles into the fridge after he drinks them. So he drinks the milk from the nipped bottles, and we put it right back into the fridge until we we have a whole stash to wash at once and scrub down properly. It is far too time-consuming to do each one individually.

Also, is the one you use very moody toddler proof (kid likes to throw his bottles on the floor right now and since it’s glass, is it actually toddler proof)?

NO! 100% NOT MOODY TODDLER PROOF! We have, on numerous times, told him NOT to ruin the bottles or toss them.

To his credit, he doesn’t do it. He likes to roll them on the floor but he doesn’t toss or throw them.

That said, it IS glass, even if it is tempered glass covered with a silicone web. We have dropped it (ourselves) a number of times on the floor and thus far it has not broken, but once at pre-school, when we gave him a bottle to use for water there, I don’t know what happened but it completely shattered. I think he or some kid tossed it hard on the floor and glass went everywhere. It was not terrible like normal glass, it is tempered glass, so it kind of stuck together, but.. it DOES break. Do not use glass if your child is moody.

2. Would also love to know what brand of pots/ pans you use since we finally decide to upgrade from our cracked Ikea and non sticky ones. Quality (for reasonable price) is what we are looking at right now.

*cough*

What do you consider reasonable? 🙂

My partner is very, very picky about pots and pans. We own the All-Clad D5 Brushed Stainless Steel series which is about $800 USD for the set. Most people would not find that “reasonable”, but we have the set and love it. Amazon seems to sell it for about $630 though, and maybe if you wait for Black Friday it could drop even more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZNCMBQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006ZNCMBQ&linkCode=as2&tag=fabubrokinthe-20

If you are not into stainless steel (yeah you gotta SCRUB the dang thing), I would recommend the T-Fal Ceramic non-stick series (do not buy the old one with that non-stick coating that is now banned because it causes cancer). I was looking at the ceramic non-stick series but my partner is concerned that “non-stick” means there could be another compound in there that causes cancer that we will find out in 10 years and by that time, we’ll all be in chemotherapy. (He is very Doom and Gloom).

Another good non-stick pan if you take good care of it is Lodge Cast Iron (it is HEAVY). Do not use soap on it, only hot water, and oil to “clean”, and apparently it lasts a lifetime. My partner did buy a cast iron pan, but he sort of hates that he can’t use soap on it. It keeps the flavours that were cooked in it before (e.g. bacon), and imparts that flavour onto all future foods which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you see it. I know people who keep a layer of bacon fat on their cast iron pans 24/7, and have had their pans for years. Truly non-stick.

Otherwise, another brand people seem to like is Lagostina but their prices are just as high as All-Clad in some cases.

Last question – any reason why you use kettle instead of the electric hot water dispenser (ps – sorry to hear about the burnt pan incident btw, hope the counter can get easily fixed after all…)? Does it taste better when making tea or coffee?

Thanks. The counter in the end is ruined, and I should have just left the burn mark on there (read about my idiocy here). Now there is a light stain on there, AND it is ruined with pock marks. We could epoxy it and make it “flat” again but we have just accepted to not put anything in / on that area. I feel terrible each time I look at it. I want to cover it with a potted plant. 🙁

Couple of reasons…

1. We are cheap minimalists. Why have ANOTHER device to boil water when we could just use a pot / pan that is there to do it, and clean it later? It would take up space on the counter, be only one use…

2. My partner does not trust kettles. He cannot reconcile with the fact that there is water boiling in there, perhaps RUSTING inside of the kettle (lots of components), and then imparting that rusted, crusty flavour into the water, causing cancer or whatever disease might  come from it.

With kettles, you can’t really open it up and let it dry out completely so that the water doesn’t stay on there and eat away at the metal (causing rust, degradation). He isn’t convinced that it is that safe.

With pots, at least you can boil water, and then let it air out and dry completely, no chance of the metal rusting. Even if metal doesn’t rust (e.g. aluminium which you should not be using to cook food with either). So..that’s why.

Thanks so much for the answer!

Any time <3

Still have a burning question?

You can ask any question using the form here and all of my previous Ask Sherry posts are here.

4 Comments

  • Yet Another PF Blog

    I love our All Clad pans. So much nicer to use than the cheap Teflon ones I had right out of college.

    One way to get decent pans for cheap is to find a local restaurant supply shop. The stainless steel pans at ours are not as aesthetically nice as the consumer grade stuff, but probably a fifth of the cost and tough as nails.

  • Cassie

    Quick question, the non-stock coating that was banned for causing cancer – are you talking about Teflon, or is there another one that has gotten the side eye? I replaced all of our Teflon pans a couple years ago, and I’m hoping I don’t need to replace the new ones any time soon. If I do I’ll probably go the route you mention and go back to straight metal. It would really just be a larger skillet I needed anyway, I have some hefty Kitchenaid pans that have been doing the job for about 13 years now.

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