Shopping for Cast Iron

We’ve accumulated a fairly good stockpile of cast iron cookware over the years. A couple of pieces were much treasured hand-me-downs. A few were also fantastic scores!– the pieces we picked up at yard sales and second-hand shops. We also have a few pieces that we purchased on sale because we had a hankering for such items, but were able to wait until we came across a great deal. Here are a few items that I would not do without– even if that meant having to buy them new! at full price!!

1. 10-12″ Skillet


This is our most-often used, most loved cast iron pan. It’s great for frying chicken, making burgers, pan-frying fish, baking a batch of corn bread– in other words, an all-around practical pan.

2. 4-Quart Camp Dutch Oven

Look at this pot and you can almost smell chili cooking. We have a couple camp-style Dutch ovens with legs.

3. Large Cast Iron Pizza Pan

We had a pizza stone, which was good fun until it cracked in half. At a sale, we purchased a cast iron pizza pan, and it has been a more than adequate replacement. It’s great for making pizza, of course, but also just as good for baking scones. Highly recommended.

4. Reversible Cast Iron Griddle
This piece was a bit of a surprise– one of the “who ever would have guessed we needed that!” things. Again, we picked it up on sale and we’ve made good use of it. It’s great for cooking steaks or burgers indoors and it leave lovely grill-mark impressions on your meat! It’s also great for making authetic-ish fajitas since you can sizzle your meat strips to perfection on its textured surface.

Our favorite places to watch for cast iron cookware bargains include Cabela‘s and KitchenPort, a local place. When researching this post, I noticed that Lodge is having a sale on some of the pieces I like, for example their 10″, 12″ and 13″ Skillets are $5.00 off the regular price right now. And with the miracle pairing of online shopping and shipping, even heavy items are affordable.

Our next step: How to take care of cast iron cookware. It’s not as hard as you might have been led to believe. And in fact, it’s kinda fun.