August 1, 2025 • 52 mins
In this episode of Crunchy Stewardship, cousins Chrissy Rombach and Katie Fiola Jones dive into the topic of non-toxic and safe cookware to promote overall health and wellness. They discuss the potential hazards of common materials such as non-stick coatings, plastics, and aluminum, highlighting the importance of making informed choices about what we use in our kitchens. They recommend alternatives like stainless steel, cast iron, glass, and ceramic, while also providing the best tips for finding affordable options.. Join the conversation about how to make your kitchen healthier without breaking the bank by logging onto their Facebook Group, Crunchy Christian Mamas on a Budget!
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship
00:41 Support and Subscribe
02:31 Introduction to Cookware
03:10 The Dangers of Non-Stick Cookware
12:09 Plastic in the Kitchen
17:09 Aluminum and Other Harmful Materials
20:22 Silicone and Stainless Steel
23:21 Choosing the Best Cookware
25:58 Recommended Cookware Brands
28:20 Cast Iron Cookware
29:41 Exploring Cast Iron Cookware
31:15 Stainless Steel vs. Cast Iron
33:23 Ceramic Cookware: Pros and Cons
37:27 The Versatility of Dutch Ovens
39:18 Non-Toxic Kitchen Materials
46:57 Affordable Cookware Shopping Tips
Links Mentioned
- Katie's Raw Milk Experience - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNxSwwyJKsU
- Blog: Find Factory Seconds - https://agapeinvests.com/factory-seconds-designer-deals-for-less/
- Katie’s Moving Videos - https://www.youtube.com/@KatieFiolaJones
- Dark Waters Movie - https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B081FJP1YN/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r
- How to Cook on Stainless Steel Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5XcN3AyITY
Connect With Us:
Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama
Follow us on Instagram @crunchystewardship
FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chrissy (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship my name is
(00:03):
Chrissy Rombach.
Katie (00:04):
And my name is Katie Fiola Jones.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, emotional,financial, and physical health
in order to honor God in everyaspect of their lives.
Chrissy (00:20):
In this podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to steward our lives asGod originally intended for us
with the resources that God hasgiven us.
We are looking at topics likefood, medicine, finances, mental
health, and tons more through anatural lens and with a biblical
foundation.
Katie (00:38):
But before we get started today in our episode, if you
have been enjoying our podcast,which I know that there's many
of you out there who have beenreaching out to us saying that
you have been enjoying it, wewould really love if you took a
moment right now to pause theshow and leave us a five star
rating.
(00:58):
Also, if you're not alreadysubscribed, be sure to do that
so you get notified when we havenew episodes.
This all helps other people findour show in the future, and we
do want to reach more peoplewith the knowledge that we have,
so that way we can equip otherbelievers with this awesome
information that we have beenkind of given, I guess.
(01:18):
And if you aren't already signedup for our weekly newsletter,
please go ahead and take amoment by doing that.
You can go and click the link inthe show notes below to
subscribe.
And last shout out is that Iactually posted our very first
YouTube video on our YouTubechannel, which is just Crunchy
(01:39):
Stewardship.
Same like the podcast.
So if you haven't found us overon YouTube, go ahead and do
that.
We'll be putting out other newvideos in the future.
But this video that I createdrecently was on my experience
trying raw milk for the firsttime, which is just so crazy
still saying it that like we noware raw milk purchasers or
(02:04):
drinkers or whatever, and I'mreally excited about it.
But you, you gotta go check outthat episode on our YouTube
channel to see what myexperience was like for the
first time trying raw milk.
Chrissy (02:17):
Unfortunately today's episode is not about raw milk.
That
Katie (02:22):
It is not
Chrissy (02:23):
peek on on our YouTube.
Katie (02:25):
sneak peek.
Chrissy (02:26):
So today's episode, we are actually gonna be talking
about cookware because this isone of those things that Katie
and I are both in the process ofpreparing to switch in our own
kitchens.
But it's also one of thoseswitches that does require a
little bit more of a financialbuy-in because, uh, as everybody
(02:46):
knows, a good cooking set is notcheap.
And so this episode, we aregonna take a look at the things
to look out for, the things tolook for in cookware.
And we may or may not name dropa couple brands that are good
and bad.
So, keep listening and we'll gothrough it.
So first off, we're gonna startoff with talking about the
(03:08):
things you wanna look out for,the red flags when it comes to
cookware.
Things that are no bueno, andhow you can identify those.
Katie (03:18):
Yep.
So the main thing that I havelearned in the last handful of
months, my journey with cookwareactually started probably back
in.
I, uh, maybe January or so, Iwas kind of introduced to the
idea that the pots and pans thatwe had in our home were probably
(03:41):
very toxic and poisoning us,actually.
And that was the first time Ihad ever heard about this, was
probably on a podcast episode,or actually it may have been
mentioned in a book I wasreading at the time.
And this was like a news flashto me.
I had never heard this.
I never considered that my potsand pans were bad.
And the main thing that Ilearned was really toxic in our
(04:05):
cookware is basically anythinglabeled non-stick.
So if you think of like Teflonpans there, there's a chemical
in it, A forever chemical.
It's like P-F-A-S-P-F-A-S.
Um, I actually don't.
Know exactly what that standsfor off the top of my head.
But these chemicals in anythingthat's basically non-stick, they
(04:30):
come out into your food when youare cooking them.
So when they are exposed tohigher heats, they get into the
foods, they also get into theair.
So you think about when you'recooking and there's lots of
steam and heat that's coming offof the pan and, and it's going
up and you, you usually wannahave like the vent hood on.
(04:50):
So it's taking the air out.
So it's taking all the stuff outof the air and hopefully
filtering it directly outsideand pulling it outside.
But basically these chemicalsare in your cookware, both
usually your pots and pans aswell as baking trays.
But you want to be reallycareful that you're not using
(05:12):
these because they can beleaching into your food, into
your air, and you are theningesting it and inhaling it.
And they have been linked totons of terrible, terrible
things.
In fact, there is a movie thatI'm going to Google right now
'cause I don't know what it'scalled, but Mark Ruffalo is in
(05:33):
it, and it's, it's a real movieor it's a movie about, a real
story about the guy who.
I think, I don't remember if heactually invented this chemical
and then realized how bad it wasor if he was just a part of the
process of like realizing thatthese are really bad.
But he's kind of like thiswhistleblower guy who was trying
to warn the world about howterrible these chemicals are
(05:57):
because they're basicallypoisoning everybody.
The movie's actually called DarkWaters, and the main character
guy is actually a lawyer whoworked for a chemical attorney's
office who defended the chemicalcompanies and.
A small farmer from his hometownlike came to him and asked him
(06:19):
to defend the small farmeragainst the chemical companies.
And so this guy agreed and itturned into this huge process
that was, I think like 30 yearslong of trying to uncover the
truth about Teflon.
And unfortunately, the farmerwho started this whole situation
(06:39):
died in the process,specifically actually from.
Teflon poisoning, and so it's avery eye-opening movie.
It's called Dark Waters.
It came out in 2019.
I highly recommend you go watchit.
It definitely changed my mindseton cookware and anything with
Teflon in it in general.
(07:00):
But I think, like thinking backto what I knew about cookware
growing up, I feel like I alwaysknew that Teflon wasn't the
greatest for you.
I never really understood thedepth to which it was actually
bad for you though.
I always thought, oh, okay, it'snot that bad, but I like
(07:23):
non-stick, so that's what we'regonna stick with, you know?
But then as I got older, I cameto realize that no, it actually
has a lot of healthramifications to it.
It has cancer causing pieces toit, it has endocrine disruptors
in it.
Just the more and more I learnedabout it, the more I was like,
oh, I actually really want tostay away from this.
(07:45):
So it has been on my list ofthings to change in our house
since I watched this movie, Andso, uh, yeah
I actually haven't seen it just yet, but I do know about
the movie from a podcast episodeI listened to with that guy
who's the main character in themovie.
He was interviewed on a podcastthat I listened to, and his
(08:06):
story is just, I mean, it'swild.
And now that you're saying that,I do remember.
Yeah.
He's the lawyer who wasdefending these people who are
like, something's happening herein our tiny town and our cows
are dying and our people aredying.
And, and it's just really awfulwhen it's really saturated.
Chrissy (08:23):
It's really crazy because in, so the whole reason
this tiny town in particular wasfeeling the ramifications of the
Teflon so much was because theTeflon company, which whose
factory was located like justnorth of the town or something
like that, was dumping theirwaste into the river.
(08:46):
And so this Teflon waste was intheir water, like throughout
their entire drinking watersystem for this town.
And at this point in history,the FDA did not have any
regulations on PFAS in thewater.
And so when this lawyeroriginally brought it to court
(09:07):
as a problem.
The Teflon company was able toskirt around the issue by
saying, no, we have no regulatedchemicals in our water that are
outside of regulation point.
And so essentially this guy hadto create an entirely new
regulation, which is one of thereasons why the court case took
(09:29):
about 30 years.
And now I've told you the entirestory, but you should still go
watch this movie.
Um, there's actually one pointin the movie where two kids are
riding their bike and they lookover and smile and their teeth
are black.
And it turns out that all thecows that were dying also.
Had black teeth, and so in thistown it's just a little tiny
(09:53):
town.
It was also known as like CancerValley because everybody in this
town seemed to die of cancer anda lot of people had oral health
issues and it was all linkedback to this Teflon or the PFAS
in their food and water, whichis just so horrible.
Katie (10:11):
it's so sad.
And it is, it's something thatlike, yeah, growing up I had
non-stick pans.
Um, I had non-stick pans earlyon in our marriage up until more
recently when I started learningsome of this.
And they're really great.
I mean, they, there's a lot ofbenefit to having pans and
cookware and everything thatyour food doesn't stick to.
(10:35):
But what I learned is thatanytime you see a product
labeled as either non-stick orwater resistant or anything like
that, where it's like it repelsstuff.
So whether it's food or water orsomething.
You know that it typically hasone of these really bad
chemicals in it.
And so that's been really hardfor me too because a lot of, uh,
(10:57):
materials and things for babiesare considered like water
resistant or stain resistant,And so a lot of these other,
products that we use in ourhouseholds are also laiden with
these really bad things.
And so it's really hard to kindof, navigate the world of these
toxic chemicals when they'repretty much everywhere nowadays,
(11:22):
but especially, especiallyimportant to get rid of them in
your cooking products becausethat's literally what you are
putting directly into your bodyevery single day, what you're
cooking on.
So I think when we, when we talkabout cookware or when I even
just think of cookware and whatto be wary of and to almost like
(11:43):
just completely avoid.
That is one of the number onethings.
But I wanna also talk aboutplastic because, and we've
talked a little bit aboutplastic and and stuff in the
past, but when you think aboutcookware or kitchenware or
dishes or anything that is inyour kitchen, plastic is another
one of those big things that Ihave been learning is just
(12:07):
something you want to a hundredpercent avoid at all costs.
And so we have been goingthrough the process of switching
everything out in our kitchen,which again, is so hard because
plastic is so nice because it'sdurable and long lasting.
But it also, similar to the PFASin non-stick pans.
(12:28):
Plastics will leach into yourfoods, especially when they are
heated up, but also when youhave any kinda liquid in a
plastic container.
So if you are using plastic tokeep your food leftovers in or
plastic to hold your liquids todrink from, so your cups, you
really wanna consider stayingaway from those and, and
(12:50):
potentially chucking them and,and getting something new
because that's anotherkitchenware item that can be
really dangerous.
Chrissy (12:59):
That is actually one switch that Max and I found
decently easy to change.
So we are currently in theprocess of moving just down the
road.
Uh, we're downsizing from athree bedroom house to a one
bedroom apartment, and in thisprocess, we have made the
decision to take this as anopportunity to get rid of a lot
(13:21):
of the plastic cups and platesand things that we have, and
replacing those with glass cupshas actually not been nearly as
expensive as I anticipated.
Literally last night we went outto Crate Barrel, which is not a
cheap place to find cookware.
If anything, it's one of thoseplaces that I would try to stay
(13:43):
away from because it's soexpensive.
But we found a 12 pack of glasscups for$36 that is with tax
included.
So I was very happy with that.
And honestly, in comparison toglass cups on Amazon or other
places like Walmart.
They were cheaper than Amazonand Walmart.
And Crate and Barrel has somegreat options for glass cups and
(14:04):
bowls and things like that.
So yeah, those are some thingsthat are pretty easy switches
and they're not super, superexpensive, like pots and pans
would be.
Katie (14:14):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great point.
So, yeah, so, okay, we talkedkind of a little bit about the
non-stick pots and pans,anything that has any, whenever
you just see that label, I mean,Teflon people already started
becoming a little wary of maybea decade or so ago.
But even if you just see a labelthat says non-stick, you know
(14:34):
that it has some not greatchemicals that make it
non-stick.
You wanna avoid plastic in yourkitchen for any kind of kitchen
product, especially actually.
Um, one of the big ones too iscutting boards.
Your plastic cutting boards.
Can be really bad because you'rechopping onto this plastic
board, which can then releasethese microplastics into your
(14:57):
food.
But then the little grooves inyour cutting board allow for
bacteria to sit in and kind ofmake a home in, and then you're
putting food back on top of it,which then can be exposed to
this bacteria.
So, uh, plastic cutting boardsshould be a huge no-no.
You wanna kind of look forsomething that is wood or even,
(15:19):
we've seen now these like kindof cool stainless steel things.
They're, they're kind of noisywhen you chop on them, but you
can look for those.
Chrissy (15:26):
Question about the stainless steel.
Does it dull knives faster?
Because I've heard that glasscutting boards can do that.
So I don't know, would stainlesssteel cutting boards be the same
way?
Katie (15:38):
You know, I could see that it might be a possibility
My mother got us.
Like a stainless steel cuttingboard for Christmas and we use
it every now and then.
I think it just like looksreally sleek, but I don't always
love the noise of it when you'rechopping like a, a bunch of
stuff really quickly.
'cause it's, it's much noisier.
(15:59):
It's got that clang to it versuslike a wood or bamboo or
something like that.
Like where it's a more dulled ofa noise.
So I could definitely see itbeing a problem of dulling your
knives, but I don't know, wehaven't been using it long
enough for me to like takenotice and it's not my go-to
cutting board.
'cause we have like other bambooones that I really like and I
(16:21):
choose first.
So the stainless steel one Iusually use as a last resort
more than my go-to.
But good question.
I don't know if anyone knows theanswer, let us know.
'cause now I'm curious, am I ifI'm ruining my knives with this
really cool cutting board.
Okay, so we talked a little bitabout the non-stick and the
plastic, but another big one toothat.
(16:43):
Can actually be kind of trickyto pinpoint in your, especially
bakeware, like if you have it ornot, is aluminum.
Now aluminum and stainless steellook very similar.
They're that kind of medley, youknow, cooking pan that you
typically have.
But a aluminum has been linkedwith things like, Alzheimer's
(17:06):
and other neuro challenges,neuro diseases even.
Um, there's a lot of toxicity toaluminum and it's something that
a lot of us kind of know.
You don't want to have aluminumin your anything.
The aluminum can be found inbaking powder.
(17:27):
And so when you're looking forbaking powder at the grocery
store, you wanna make sure it'slike aluminum free and you
always wanna look for deodorantthat doesn't have aluminum in it
as well.
But aluminum, same thing.
You, you wanna avoid it in yourkitchen because aluminum has
been linked to a lot of, um,illnesses and diseases, so it's
actually really hard.
I found that most baking trays,especially if they don't say
(17:54):
stainless steel on them, aretypically aluminum.
And people like companies getaway with this because.
Your average shopper going tothe store can't really tell the
difference.
There's a, you can kind of tellthe color shininess difference
between the two of them if youhave them side by side, but it's
really hard when you're justgoing down the aisle and you're
(18:17):
like, oh, these look good, andyou just kind of pick'em up from
target or something.
Chrissy (18:21):
I feel like aluminum also starts to have a little bit
of a metallic smell to it aftera while.
Currently, unfortunately, Istill actually have an aluminum
bread pan, which is kind ofironic because I grind my own
wheat to make bread, but then Icook it in an aluminum pan and
after a while it can, like whenI'm cleaning it after baking
(18:44):
bread, I can smell the metal init and it's on my list of things
to replace.
But you know, one thing at atime here, we're moving, so
that's enough on our page andfor our checkbook at the moment.
Katie (18:53):
Yes.
Yeah, well you think likesomething like metal, like
especially aluminum reacts withanything acidic or salty.
So if you have something saltythat you are cooking.
So I, I consider when we cookpotatoes, like if we do like
roasted chopped potatoes orsomething, we would like
(19:14):
sprinkle it with salt and maybeeven some like lemon juice or
something.
So that's both like salty andacidic.
It starts to wear and degradethat aluminum even more.
And that's when it really isstarting to leak into your food
and that is very, very bad.
And so you wanna be very carefulof that as well.
(19:37):
So those are like the three, Ithink.
Main things that come to mindthat, that I have learned that
we need to be really aware of.
Are there any other, like topones that, like things that you
can think of that we need toavoid in our kitchens?
Chrissy.
Chrissy (19:54):
You know, I actually did wanna touch on silicone
because it's kind of plasticy.
It's kind of rubbery, but it'salso considered safe, and I've
seen some mixed reviews on it.
I have seen that some people saythat if you're going to be using
your cooking utensils, you wanteither 100% silicone or wood or
bamboo.
(20:14):
I've also heard some people saythat silicone does leach into
your food if it's exposed tolike a high fat content or high
heat.
So if you're mixing somethinglike cake batter or something
like that, that has a very highfat content, that is something
that can actually cause thesilicone to leach into your
food.
Um, have you also heard aboutthat, Katie?
Katie (20:36):
So what I've learned about silicone, I kind of had to
go backwards a little bit andreally I like, I didn't even
know what silicone was.
I was like, is this a manmadeproduct?
Is it natural?
So silicone is actually madefrom sand, but where you can get
tripped up is, and you, you kindof hit the nail on the head, you
mentioned 100% silicone.
(20:57):
And that is really what you wantto look for when you get
anything silicone based, whetherit's like a household product or
a cooking product or anythingfor your baby.
'cause there's tons of thingsthat they make for kids that are
silicone and you wanna make sureit's a hundred percent silicone
because then it's that morenatural product.
If it's not a hundred percent,it can often be, um.
(21:23):
There can be like plasticadditives.
And so you just wanna be carefulwith what is in it if it's not a
hundred percent silicone.
And so a lot of the cheap, likeif you go to Target or Walmart
and you just find like the$2spatula, that's silicone, most
likely, that also has toxins init because it's probably not a
(21:47):
hundred percent.
So you just wanna be careful ofthat.
So you're, you're definitelyright.
Same thing actually, Chrissy, Ilearned with stainless steel,
you can actually advertisesomething as stainless steel,
even if it's not a hundredpercent.
And there's like a certainpercentage of it that you can
have of other stuff.
So in the case of cooking traysand stuff, what I learned is
(22:11):
that it might not be a hundredpercent.
And it might have aluminum in itactually.
And so then it's like, well, ifI'm trying to avoid aluminum,
you just have to be reallycareful that it is a hundred
percent stainless steel, if thatmakes sense.
Chrissy (22:26):
Don't.
They also advertise like apercentage or a fraction on
their stainless steel.
Like if you're shopping forstainless steel, you can look
for something like 1810 on it,and that can also kind of tell
you how good it is or bad it is.
Katie, I know you've done alittle bit more research on
that.
Do you wanna touch on that realquick?
Katie (22:46):
Yeah.
I actually, so when you're, Iguess we can kind of start
diving into a little bit more oflike.
Now.
Okay.
If we kind of covered like allthe things you wanna be really
careful about, but now let's getinto the more specifics of when
you're actually picking thingsout.
What are the best materials andyeah, what should we be looking
for?
(23:06):
Because obviously we've kind oftalked about stainless steel, so
let's, let's dive into that justa little bit more.
As I mentioned, you want it tobe a hundred percent.
Um, I don't actually knowexactly what this means, but I
wrote it down from somethingthat I was looking at, and so
you wanna double check theactual stainless steel grade
because apparently there can belower grades of stainless steel
(23:31):
versus like Yeah, like highergrade.
Lower grade.
I don't really understand it toomuch, but you do want to.
Look for the higher quality,which is considered the 1810
stainless steel.
And so I don't know if that'slike, what, what that fraction
means.
I don't know if it's like somany particles of something per
(23:52):
10, I don't even know.
But that is what I found in abook.
I wrote it down here, so thatway, if that means something to
you or just when you're lookingat the boxes of pans at your
home goods store, that is whatyou want.
Um, it's known to be more likecorrosion resistant and have
(24:13):
longer durability.
Honestly, as long as it is juststainless steel and isn't like,
it doesn't have the, any otherlike metal additives, I think
that you're good.
But it could just mean somethinglasts longer than something
else.
Chrissy (24:31):
I just looked it up.
Google is a beautiful thing.
Um, so apparently 1810 stainlesssteel means that it's made up of
18% chromium and 10% nickel,which means that it will be
extremely durable to both rustand corrosion and is really high
quality.
Katie (24:49):
There you go.
Good.
Way to go Google.
Well, yeah, obviously ingeneral, when you're looking at
products like not all stainlesssteel is made the same, right?
So that's kind of the moral ofthe story.
But when you're looking for potsand pans,'cause you're like,
okay, well now I have to go anddo all this crazy research to
(25:12):
determine which pans have this18, 10, and which ones are good
performing and which ones aren'tgonna, you know, degrade over
time.
But good news is that again,people have done lots of
research and there are some topbrands that have really good
reputations for being very longlasting, especially when they're
(25:33):
well cared for.
So some of the trusted brandsthat we have considered and some
that we even actually have arethe, the top one by far is all
clad and it's A LL dash CLAD.
You've probably seen all cladeither maybe in your home, your
parents' home, your grandma'shome.
(25:53):
You maybe have seen them in thestore.
It, it's a tried and truecompany when it comes to
stainless steel.
Another like the other two thatI came across that are also
really good are called, um, MadeIn.
So that's two words Made In, andthen the other one is Calphalon.
I've actually never said it outloud.
I've only written it before,which is funny.
(26:13):
I actually own one CalphalonPan, but these are, these are
the ones that are known to havelike higher quality stainless
steel.
So if you're looking for some,those are what you should go
with.
You will notice though, when youare shopping for them, they are
expansive, so just be aware ofthat.
What other cooking things areyou looking for, Chrissy?
(26:36):
When you, now that you're makingyour switch, are there any
specific materials or brandsthat you are going to look
forward to now replace your oldstuff.
Chrissy (26:47):
Yes.
so in addition to stainlesssteel, we're looking for
stainless steel for like thosepots, specifically for soups and
mac and cheese, of course,because I've gotta get my mac
and cheese in there.
Katie (26:57):
Gotta loveve your mac and cheese
Chrissy (26:59):
he.
Yep.
But then for our pans, becausewith our pans we like to saute a
bit more, and with the stainlesssteel, it's really hard to get
the stainless steel to anon-stick point.
It requires heating it up allthe way and then cooling it off
part of the way, and then addingcertain ingredients at a time,
(27:20):
and you have to keep it at aspecific temperature in order to
maintain that non-stick pointwith the stainless steel.
And honestly, that's a lot ofwork.
I am not very good at it, so Ifeel like it's really hard to
master.
And so for cooking things thatare more like sauteing, like
vegetables and chicken and eggsand things like that, we're
(27:41):
actually looking at, um, castiron.
And so we currently have onecast iron skillet and we love
it.
It's a Le Creuset brand and weuse it for, almost any like
larger dish that we cook on thestove.
We actually haven't had a grillin a very long time, and so
(28:02):
we've cooked chicken in it quitefrequently.
Um, most of our meats we cook ina cast iron.
And we love it.
Also, the nice thing about castiron is, so this might gross
some people out, but for somepeople it's really great if it
doesn't gross you out, is thatyou don't actually clean it
completely in between usesbecause the idea is to allow the
(28:25):
flavors to kind of get into thecast iron to season the pan.
So that with each use, your foodbecomes more and more flavorful
because the flavors of theprevious food is still in the
pan and then it just adds toyour next dish.
Which Max and I have found thatto be very beneficial in terms
of just adding flavor to meatthat's completely unseasoned.
(28:48):
And we love the flavor of themeat that we cook in our cast
iron.
And so, um, yeah, like I saidearlier.
We use the Le Creuset brand, butthere's a lot of really great
cast iron brands out there.
I just haven't really lookedinto them all that much.
Um, I do know they can be alittle bit more expensive, but
they're super easy to find onFacebook Marketplace and things
(29:10):
like that.
So that is probably where I'mgoing to look to get smaller
cast iron pans to replace ourlittle frying pan.
Katie (29:20):
Yeah, we love, love, love, love, love our cast iron
pans.
In fact, I think we do 80 to 90%of our cooking on our two that
we have.
We use them for everything.
The really cool thing about castiron is that you can use it on a
(29:42):
stove top, but they're also ovensafe.
And so you can, like, I makebiscuits in them, so I'll do,
like, I'll kind of put it inthere and then I'll put it into
the oven and then cook mybiscuits in that.
And they are just veryversatile.
They, like Chrissy said, um, youdon't wash them with any soap
because it actually, when youuse soap, it kind of takes away
(30:07):
the nons stickiness, and so youhave to season it after each of
your times that you use it eachcooking session, and you kind of
use some like olive oil or justany kind of fat or oil on it to
kind of season it and it locksin that non-ST stickiness.
So it's like a naturalnon-stick.
(30:29):
We tried some stainless steelpans that.
I found, um, like at the thriftstore and on Facebook
marketplace, we actually usestainless steel for our pots.
Actually, just like you said,Chrissy, we have like a steamer
basket, one that we really like,but man, I have tried cooking on
(30:49):
some pans with just like thesetiny stainless steel ones and
they are such a pain.
I've literally watched so manyvideos on that whole making it
non-stick and putting the waterdroplet on it.
I mean, literally watch thesevideos to be like, when is like
cooking properly on stainlesssteel?
They're very fascinating, butyeah, exactly like you said,
(31:10):
they're so hard to master andwe've kind of given up and.
Honestly, one of the best thingstoo about cast iron is that they
are literally made from iron.
And so when you cook in it, justlike your other materials that
you're using, they're typicallygetting into your food.
Well, there's certain ones thatyou really wanna avoid, but the
great thing about iron thesestainless or these cast iron
(31:32):
pans is that it's actuallyadding iron to your food, which
is actually good for you.
And a lot of us are irondeficient, and so it's a, it's
nice that you're cooking andyou're getting like a benefit
from your pan getting into yourfood in that sense.
So we personally use the brandLodge.
Oftentimes you can find them atthrift stores.
People get rid of them all thetime because it does, there's a
(31:55):
little bit of a learning curve,but I would say it's not as
difficult to master as.
The stainless steel pans are,they're, they're much easier and
they're easy to get, like tobounce back from.
Like, we burnt something sobadly the other day on our pan
and it was kind of a pain tolike get it all off and
everything, but they're totallyfine.
(32:17):
And it just took, honestly, ittakes like more cooking on it to
like get some of the bad stuffoff.
But yeah, so I really love them.
So, okay.
So stainless steel and castiron.
Chrissy, what else are you usingin your kitchen or looking for
in your move?
So one item that I got really,really excited about, I wanted
(32:40):
to try it a lot, was ceramiccookware.
I know Le Creuset has someceramic stuff.
Williams Sonoma has a ceramicline and Caraway is ceramic.
I think Green Pan also has aceramic line.
I was really, really excitedabout it because it claims to be
non-toxic and non-stick, and atfirst I was hesitant, like,
(33:02):
okay, how can something benon-stick and non-toxic at the
same time?
If you look at their websites,they.
Look like they're very safe, um,and they're durable and
non-toxic and everything likethat.
But the more research that I'vedone on like non-filtered areas
like Facebook where people canjust share their opinions and
(33:23):
it's not going to be filtered bysomebody who's making sure that
everything on social media lookscorrect um, for example, in our
Facebook group, CrunchyChristian Mamas on a Budget,
it's a place where people canshare their opinions and it's
not going to be filtered bythese large companies.
They can't really go in anddelete these comments because
it's, they're not in theFacebook group.
(33:45):
And so these comments, um,aren't deleted.
And so every time I would lookat these Google reviews for
these ceramic pans and pots andthings like that.
Um, I, they, all the Googlereviews looked super good that
they were safe and non-stick atthe same time.
It was like the best of bothworlds.
(34:06):
But then when I went to facebookgroups and other areas that are
not monitored by the company.
That's where I started to learn,okay, maybe these are actually
greenwashed a little bit, andthey do actually have toxins
that leach into your food.
So the ceramic specifically forcaraway, I believe has an
(34:29):
aluminum base that the ceramicis covering over top.
And so if the ceramic cracks forany reason or gets scratched in
any way, then you're immediatelygetting aluminum leaching into
your food, which is exactly whatwe're trying to avoid here by
getting non-toxic cookware.
And ceramic, historically isvery safe to use.
(34:50):
You know, we have plates andbowls and things that are
ceramic, and so they're reallygreat to use and they're super
safe.
But also like with cooking, youknow, ceramic is not completely
unbreakable, and so if it breaksor if it cracks or scratches,
then you're stuck withwhatever's underneath getting
into your food.
Now, if the bottom layer is castiron, then by all means, that's
(35:12):
probably great, but I haven'tfound that yet.
So, um.
Yeah, maybe something to createin a future business plan.
Who knows?
ceramic itself is actually very safe and
non-toxic, but just like yousaid, if it's a ceramic coated
pan, the moment that it chipsand you, whatever's underneath
it is exposed, which oftentimesit is some kind of aluminum or
(35:36):
other metal that is not good,then they're, those pans are
basically useless.
And so, yeah, same thing.
We considered doing caraway, butI, my friend actually got
caraway pans and hers chippedpretty quickly after she got
them, like within a few months.
And I was like, uh, if I'm gonnaspend that much money on pans, I
(35:57):
want to make sure that they'regonna last long and that I, I
don't have to be super delicateand gentle.
'cause like with my cast irons,they can take a beating and they
are fine afterwards, but it's,yeah, the caraway ones, I'm
like, mm-hmm.
Chrissy (36:10):
That was one of the things that I saw in the
Facebook, Facebook group chatsthat multiple people reported
with the caraway pans was themchipping within three months,
and that was really concerningto me.
I'm not gonna spend$500 on a newset of pots and pans only for it
to last me three months, so.
Katie (36:27):
Um, let's just touch on a few other materials that are
good in the kitchen and thenwe'll briefly just go over where
we can, like how we can findthese things for the, like in
the most affordable way.
Some of the other materials thatare just kind of safe in general
for any kind of cook stuff.
(36:50):
You know, stainless steel ispots and pans.
Even your cookware or yourbakeware.
If you find stainless steelbakeware, you can use glass a
lot of times in the oven.
So Pyrex is a really great brandfor.
Uh, loaf pans.
We use ours for loaf pans.
I also have just a traditionallike kind of tray that we put
(37:13):
baked items in.
So like sometimes if I dopotatoes or other veggies in the
oven, I'll put them in a glassPyrex that we have a hundred
percent silicone, like wementioned.
Chrissy (37:24):
Max, and I love our 9 by 13 Pyrex for making brownies.
Katie (37:30):
Yes.
Chrissy (37:30):
I feel like that's something that cooks the
desserts very, very well all theway through.
So Pyrex for desserts, 10 outta10 would recommend.
Katie (37:41):
I also love that Pyrex, a lot of their dishes come with
snap-on lids to them.
They often are plastic, whichyou just don't want to you.
You typically wanna hand washthem, so they don't like degrade
quickly over time, but you alsojust don't really want them
touching your food as much.
But the lids are really great.
We have a few that, yeah, whenyou're making brownies or a
(38:01):
casserole or something, you justbake it, put the lid on it, easy
for leftovers or bringing otherplaces.
So that's a really great option.
A hundred percent silicone.
Again, like we mentioned, ifyou're doing silicone in the
kitchen, just make sure it is ahundred percent.
This is really great for kidsitems that we have found because
they make so many kids.
(38:23):
Stuff like plates and bibs andsilverware and cups and
everything.
They make'em all from plastic,so that was a big one that we
actually had to switch was ourkids stuff.
And so we did switch tosilicone.
The other option for kids wouldprobably be stainless steel.
(38:43):
I've heard a lot of peoplereally enjoy stainless steel for
kids stuff, but Malachi rightnow likes to throw all of his
kitchen things, and I justcannot imagine a stainless steel
plate hitting the floor all thetime.
That would just be so noisy andso obnoxious.
And so we decided to go withsilicone for his stuff.
(39:06):
Another material that is goodand safe in the kitchen and is
non-toxic is wood, and that'stypically you wanna use wood for
your cutting boards or for yourmixing like your utensils, so
your spoons and spatulas andstuff.
That's good in wood.
Chrissy (39:25):
One thing to be aware of with wood though, is a lot of
them are coated with some sortof a lacquer or something like
that.
So you wanna make sure it'scoated with something that's
natural, like a mineral oil orlike a tallow or something.
If it's coated with anythingthat says lacquer in it, I would
stay away from that.
(39:45):
That's not very good to have.
There is one thing on Amazonthat I was looking at it, and
it's like if you search for, uh,non-toxic cooking utensils on
Amazon, it's one of the firstthings that comes up.
And this bamboo cooking utensilset is coated with a quote
unquote natural cotton lacquer.
(40:08):
And I don't know what that is,but I think I'm gonna try to
stay away from that one becauseit says the word lacquer, even
though it's made from a naturalcotton, essentially, I haven't
been able to find out exactlyhow it's made.
And so because the.
Website is not clear on how theymake this natural cotton
(40:30):
lacquer.
I'm gonna say it's probably notas safe as they are claiming it
to be.
Um, that's another thing.
If you're looking for something.
That you think is going to benon-toxic and you are trying to
figure out how they make it inorder to understand its toxicity
and you can't find that sort ofinformation, then it's probably
(40:52):
not as non-toxic as they areclaiming, because they're
probably trying to hide how theymake that item.
So that's just another thing tokeep in mind.
Katie (41:01):
Definitely, yeah.
Wood can be hard.
You do need to take good care ofyour cutting boards and things.
This is something I actuallylearned recently is that you
want to, uh, like oil them.
Pretty regularly becauseespecially with bamboo boards,
they eventually get really dry.
(41:22):
You think?
I mean, just wood in general.
The, the reason why your tablesaround your house have this nice
shine to it is because they arecoated with chemicals to protect
the wood over time from justdisintegrating.
If you leave wood out in nature,it will eventually break down
and turn into dust.
(41:43):
But with your cookware, itdoesn't have that protective
coating like your tables would,and so you need to oil it
regularly.
I learned this because ourcutting boards just got so dried
up and almost like wanted tolike splinter and everything.
So we, we got this oil to then.
(42:05):
Keep them good over time.
I can link to the one that wegot because I did do some
research on like there'sspecific oils that you want and
that you want them to, those tobe non-toxic and organic and
everything.
So
Chrissy (42:18):
I am actually very sad about some of our wood cutting
boards.
So my husband's aunt makescutting boards out of wood and
like that's one of her sidegigs.
And so she made us some handmadecutting boards for our wedding
as a wedding gift.
And at the beginning of ourmarriage, we were really, really
good at taking care of them.
(42:39):
We would rub them down withbeeswax after using them, and it
was really helpful in keepingthem nice and moisturized.
So they didn't splinter oranything like that, but
unfortunately we had not beenvery good about that recently.
And one of them splintered likehalfway down the cutting board,
which made me so sad.
There's just like this giantcrack now in the middle of it,
(43:01):
and I am like thinking of waysthat we could potentially fix it
Then, I'm also thinking of likenon-toxic ways to fix it.
I am gonna be cutting food onit, you know, so wood glue is
not ideal.
But yeah, so definitely if youget some of those wooden
utensils or wooden cuttingboards, just make sure you keep
(43:23):
them moisturized with some sortof mineral oil or beeswax or
something else tallow that'sgood for them to keep them
lasting longer so that you don'thave to just continue buying
cutting boards.
Katie (43:35):
So if you're gonna do ceramic, look for a hundred
percent.
Same thing with enamel.
I've heard enamel, it can bereally good as long as you find
a good quality enamel, pot orpan or something like that.
So I don't know exactly whatthat means, if it's go a good
quality because I have notresearched into it enough.
(43:55):
But if you're gonna do that, dosome research to find out and
maybe let us know because I'mkind of curious what is, what is
good when it comes to enamel.
Yep.
Actually, you know, I justremembered.
the one thing that we do have inour kitchen that is
enamel,
Um, is actually our Dutch oven.
(44:16):
It's actually
enamel,
Coated cast iron.
Um, and so I actually use this,I, I primarily use it for baking
bread, but I've actually, I'veused it for like making soups
and stock.
Um, and because it is cast iron.
Like it, it has cast iron in thecenter and it's just coated.
(44:37):
You actually can use it on thestove.
But you can put things in the oven with them.
You can actually use them aslike a baking vessel.
So I've heard that it's a reallygreat place to cook like a whole
chicken.
So if you're like trying toroast a whole chicken, you can
put it into a Dutch oven,
Chrissy (44:54):
What brand is your Dutch oven?
Katie (44:56):
It is Sir La Table
Chrissy (45:00):
Love Sir La Table
Katie (45:02):
Yeah, I, I kind of inherited it slash stole it from
my mother-in-law.
Shout out to Pam.
Thank you very much.
Um, it was in her kitchen and Iwas getting into baking
sourdough bread many years agoand you typically need a Dutch
oven for that.
And she had it and wasn't usingit, and it was in the back of
her pots and pans and I waslike, can I just borrow this for
(45:25):
a little bit and see if I likeit?
And she's like, just take it.
I think I've used it one timeand she got it like early in
their marriage or something.
So now it is mine.
Thank you Pam, very much forthat.
I love it.
And I actually, we were tryingto find it in all of our boxes
in our storage right now, likeour storage unit.
Because I don't have it at themoment.
Um, and we have not been able tofind it in all of our boxes, and
(45:48):
I'm really kind of bummed.
But there's, there's other waysto bake bread and to do other
things.
I just really enjoy my Dutchoven.
It's just kind of a bummer thatI don't have it, but just gotta
wait.
Gotta be patient.
But let's jump into really quickbefore we end this episode.
Where are you finding your potsand pans, Chrissy?
'cause as we've mentioned a fewtimes, when you're looking for
(46:12):
these types of things, they'regoing to last a long time.
If you invest in a good set ofpots and pans and bakeware, and
spatulas and cutting boards andall the things, they're going to
last a long time.
If you get the good qualitystuff, but it's so expensive,
what are you doing to make thismore affordable?
Is it just unavoidable that youhave to just bite the bullet and
(46:36):
buy something really expensive?
What are your tips, Chrissy?
Chrissy (46:39):
So two things.
First thing, don't buy it all atonce.
You can do one pot a month orone pan a month kind of thing,
and then months later, boom,you've replaced your entire
collection.
And so I would recommend thatstrategy.
If you're one of those peoplewho's super hesitant about
secondhand items by buy one pota month, I know in the end that
(47:02):
probably you end up spending alittle bit more money if you buy
each pot or.
Pan individually instead of justone huge collection.
But that is one way that youcould get them slowly but surely
over time.
A second method is you couldjust save money.
You know, if you plan for it,you save for it.
Dropping$500 on a very highquality cookware set is not a
(47:26):
bad financial decision.
You just have to plan for it andcreate space in your budget in
order to do that.
Um, the method that Max and Iare doing is Facebook
Marketplace because we don'treally mind secondhand items,
especially with cookware.
I'm like, you can wash it andit's good.
So Facebook Marketplace forsure, probably thrift stores
also, although I have to findsome good thrift stores because
(47:50):
there are not many good onesnear me.
But thrift stores definitelyhave some good options.
Um, grandma's kitchen, IE yourown grandmother who maybe
doesn't use her cast iron orstainless steel anymore.
Um, grandma's are always a greatplace to get hand me down
cookware, especially if shedoesn't use it anymore.
(48:11):
So see if you can, get any ofyour cookware off of your
grandparents or your parents,because I'm sure parents.
And grandparents just lovegiving their old stuff to their
grandkids and to their kids ingeneral.
So those are some places that Iwould recommend.
What about you, Katie?
I.
Katie (48:29):
Well, yeah.
One of my favorite things is tobuy things secondhand.
I love Facebook Marketplace andI actually will set up little
notifications on FacebookMarketplace for certain items
that I'm looking for, such aslike All Clad stainless steel
pots and pans.
So we did buy a handful of themfrom Facebook Marketplace.
(48:54):
The other thing that I recommendchecking out if you are really
wanting to invest in the kind ofmore expensive, high quality
items, such as all clad, is tolook into their factory seconds.
A lot of companies offer whatare called factory seconds, and
it's kind of exactly what itsounds like.
(49:15):
It's anything that came outtatheir factory and didn't make
kind of the top quality checksfor being sold to customers at
traditional prices.
So these are their products thatmight have some scratches or
dents or discolorations or thebranding like logo on the pot or
Pan is not centered, orbasically they're just not a
(49:38):
hundred percent perfect, butthey're still a hundred percent
usable.
But what that means for you andI is that they sell them at
lower prices.
Now, you're still going to bepaying probably hundreds of
dollars for these pots or pansbecause again, they're still
really, really good, but you'regoing to get a pretty decent
discount for them.
(49:59):
So for something like All Clad,you can look up all clad Factory
seconds.
I believe that Lodge, the castiron company also does factory
seconds, but a lot of these bigname companies do offer them.
Or on their website, they mighthave like a page where it says
like.
Some sort of like seconds ordiscounted prices.
(50:20):
So it's just going to not be ahundred percent perfect.
So if you're okay with that,then definitely check that out.
It might be a really great wayto save maybe a hundred bucks on
your next set of cookware.
So let us know if it works outfor you.
I will actually add a link whereI kind of go a little bit more
in depth on this, on a blogarticle that I wrote a long time
(50:41):
ago actually, um, on findingfactory seconds.
So you can do that for anythingfor, from cookware to clothing
items.
So definitely look for thosekinds of deals.
have anything else you wannaadd, Chrissy, before we sign off
today?
Chrissy (50:57):
Nope.
Should I?
No.
Katie (50:59):
No, unless you wanna give us some words of wisdom.
Chrissy (51:02):
Words of wisdom.
Make sure you buy boxes whenyou're moving, even if you're
just moving 10 minutes down theroad.
Just going back and forth, backand forth, back and forth.
It's really annoying.
Just buy boxes.
Don't be cheap.
It's not wise.
It.
Katie (51:18):
Well, hey, I, I'm gonna add a bit onto that.
Don't buy boxes.
You should go find them used.
Actually, I talk about this in aYouTube video about our move.
We just moved also acrosscountry and we did not actually
buy a single box, but we hadprobably a hundred or so boxes
(51:38):
because we posted on ourFacebook page asking for boxes
from our friends and family.
And we also just looked onFacebook Marketplace.
People get rid of boxes for freeall the time, Chrissy.
So no excuses.
Chrissy (51:51):
You know, one of my patients tried to pawn 15 bins
off on me, but then it floodedand her son was unable to get
the bins from her house becauseher street flooded literally the
day before I was supposed tomove.
So I almost had 15 free bins,but then I didn't.
So that's unfortunate.
Maybe another time.
Next move.
Next move.
(52:11):
Okay.
Katie (52:11):
Good words of wisdom.
All right.
Why don't you sign us off?
Chrissy (52:15):
Thank you guys for tuning into our conversation
today about cookware and goodand bad things to look out for
with cookware.
Make sure you subscribe and joinus over on our Facebook group,
Crunchy Christian Mamas on abudget where we will be
continuing this conversation.
We would love to hear from youand hear what resonated with
you, what kind of cookware worksbest for you and what doesn't,
(52:37):
and we will see you next time.
Until then, this is Chrissy.
Katie (52:41):
And this is Katie.
Chrissy (52:42):
And thanks for listening to Crunchy
Stewardship.
Bye.
Hello and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship my name is
(00:03):
Chrissy Rombach.
Katie (00:04):
And my name is Katie Fiola Jones.
We are two cousins who arepassionate about learning and
sharing knowledge to equipothers to steward their
spiritual, mental, emotional,financial, and physical health
in order to honor God in everyaspect of their lives.
Chrissy (00:20):
In this podcast, we are taking a deep dive into what it
means to steward our lives asGod originally intended for us
with the resources that God hasgiven us.
We are looking at topics likefood, medicine, finances, mental
health, and tons more through anatural lens and with a biblical
foundation.
Katie (00:38):
But before we get started today in our episode, if you
have been enjoying our podcast,which I know that there's many
of you out there who have beenreaching out to us saying that
you have been enjoying it, wewould really love if you took a
moment right now to pause theshow and leave us a five star
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(00:58):
Also, if you're not alreadysubscribed, be sure to do that
so you get notified when we havenew episodes.
This all helps other people findour show in the future, and we
do want to reach more peoplewith the knowledge that we have,
so that way we can equip otherbelievers with this awesome
information that we have beenkind of given, I guess.
(01:18):
And if you aren't already signedup for our weekly newsletter,
please go ahead and take amoment by doing that.
You can go and click the link inthe show notes below to
subscribe.
And last shout out is that Iactually posted our very first
YouTube video on our YouTubechannel, which is just Crunchy
(01:39):
Stewardship.
Same like the podcast.
So if you haven't found us overon YouTube, go ahead and do
that.
We'll be putting out other newvideos in the future.
But this video that I createdrecently was on my experience
trying raw milk for the firsttime, which is just so crazy
still saying it that like we noware raw milk purchasers or
(02:04):
drinkers or whatever, and I'mreally excited about it.
But you, you gotta go check outthat episode on our YouTube
channel to see what myexperience was like for the
first time trying raw milk.
Chrissy (02:17):
Unfortunately today's episode is not about raw milk.
That
Katie (02:22):
It is not
Chrissy (02:23):
peek on on our YouTube.
Katie (02:25):
sneak peek.
Chrissy (02:26):
So today's episode, we are actually gonna be talking
about cookware because this isone of those things that Katie
and I are both in the process ofpreparing to switch in our own
kitchens.
But it's also one of thoseswitches that does require a
little bit more of a financialbuy-in because, uh, as everybody
(02:46):
knows, a good cooking set is notcheap.
And so this episode, we aregonna take a look at the things
to look out for, the things tolook for in cookware.
And we may or may not name dropa couple brands that are good
and bad.
So, keep listening and we'll gothrough it.
So first off, we're gonna startoff with talking about the
(03:08):
things you wanna look out for,the red flags when it comes to
cookware.
Things that are no bueno, andhow you can identify those.
Katie (03:18):
Yep.
So the main thing that I havelearned in the last handful of
months, my journey with cookwareactually started probably back
in.
I, uh, maybe January or so, Iwas kind of introduced to the
idea that the pots and pans thatwe had in our home were probably
(03:41):
very toxic and poisoning us,actually.
And that was the first time Ihad ever heard about this, was
probably on a podcast episode,or actually it may have been
mentioned in a book I wasreading at the time.
And this was like a news flashto me.
I had never heard this.
I never considered that my potsand pans were bad.
And the main thing that Ilearned was really toxic in our
(04:05):
cookware is basically anythinglabeled non-stick.
So if you think of like Teflonpans there, there's a chemical
in it, A forever chemical.
It's like P-F-A-S-P-F-A-S.
Um, I actually don't.
Know exactly what that standsfor off the top of my head.
But these chemicals in anythingthat's basically non-stick, they
(04:30):
come out into your food when youare cooking them.
So when they are exposed tohigher heats, they get into the
foods, they also get into theair.
So you think about when you'recooking and there's lots of
steam and heat that's coming offof the pan and, and it's going
up and you, you usually wannahave like the vent hood on.
(04:50):
So it's taking the air out.
So it's taking all the stuff outof the air and hopefully
filtering it directly outsideand pulling it outside.
But basically these chemicalsare in your cookware, both
usually your pots and pans aswell as baking trays.
But you want to be reallycareful that you're not using
(05:12):
these because they can beleaching into your food, into
your air, and you are theningesting it and inhaling it.
And they have been linked totons of terrible, terrible
things.
In fact, there is a movie thatI'm going to Google right now
'cause I don't know what it'scalled, but Mark Ruffalo is in
(05:33):
it, and it's, it's a real movieor it's a movie about, a real
story about the guy who.
I think, I don't remember if heactually invented this chemical
and then realized how bad it wasor if he was just a part of the
process of like realizing thatthese are really bad.
But he's kind of like thiswhistleblower guy who was trying
to warn the world about howterrible these chemicals are
(05:57):
because they're basicallypoisoning everybody.
The movie's actually called DarkWaters, and the main character
guy is actually a lawyer whoworked for a chemical attorney's
office who defended the chemicalcompanies and.
A small farmer from his hometownlike came to him and asked him
(06:19):
to defend the small farmeragainst the chemical companies.
And so this guy agreed and itturned into this huge process
that was, I think like 30 yearslong of trying to uncover the
truth about Teflon.
And unfortunately, the farmerwho started this whole situation
(06:39):
died in the process,specifically actually from.
Teflon poisoning, and so it's avery eye-opening movie.
It's called Dark Waters.
It came out in 2019.
I highly recommend you go watchit.
It definitely changed my mindseton cookware and anything with
Teflon in it in general.
(07:00):
But I think, like thinking backto what I knew about cookware
growing up, I feel like I alwaysknew that Teflon wasn't the
greatest for you.
I never really understood thedepth to which it was actually
bad for you though.
I always thought, oh, okay, it'snot that bad, but I like
(07:23):
non-stick, so that's what we'regonna stick with, you know?
But then as I got older, I cameto realize that no, it actually
has a lot of healthramifications to it.
It has cancer causing pieces toit, it has endocrine disruptors
in it.
Just the more and more I learnedabout it, the more I was like,
oh, I actually really want tostay away from this.
(07:45):
So it has been on my list ofthings to change in our house
since I watched this movie, Andso, uh, yeah
I actually haven't seen it just yet, but I do know about
the movie from a podcast episodeI listened to with that guy
who's the main character in themovie.
He was interviewed on a podcastthat I listened to, and his
(08:06):
story is just, I mean, it'swild.
And now that you're saying that,I do remember.
Yeah.
He's the lawyer who wasdefending these people who are
like, something's happening herein our tiny town and our cows
are dying and our people aredying.
And, and it's just really awfulwhen it's really saturated.
Chrissy (08:23):
It's really crazy because in, so the whole reason
this tiny town in particular wasfeeling the ramifications of the
Teflon so much was because theTeflon company, which whose
factory was located like justnorth of the town or something
like that, was dumping theirwaste into the river.
(08:46):
And so this Teflon waste was intheir water, like throughout
their entire drinking watersystem for this town.
And at this point in history,the FDA did not have any
regulations on PFAS in thewater.
And so when this lawyeroriginally brought it to court
(09:07):
as a problem.
The Teflon company was able toskirt around the issue by
saying, no, we have no regulatedchemicals in our water that are
outside of regulation point.
And so essentially this guy hadto create an entirely new
regulation, which is one of thereasons why the court case took
(09:29):
about 30 years.
And now I've told you the entirestory, but you should still go
watch this movie.
Um, there's actually one pointin the movie where two kids are
riding their bike and they lookover and smile and their teeth
are black.
And it turns out that all thecows that were dying also.
Had black teeth, and so in thistown it's just a little tiny
(09:53):
town.
It was also known as like CancerValley because everybody in this
town seemed to die of cancer anda lot of people had oral health
issues and it was all linkedback to this Teflon or the PFAS
in their food and water, whichis just so horrible.
Katie (10:11):
it's so sad.
And it is, it's something thatlike, yeah, growing up I had
non-stick pans.
Um, I had non-stick pans earlyon in our marriage up until more
recently when I started learningsome of this.
And they're really great.
I mean, they, there's a lot ofbenefit to having pans and
cookware and everything thatyour food doesn't stick to.
(10:35):
But what I learned is thatanytime you see a product
labeled as either non-stick orwater resistant or anything like
that, where it's like it repelsstuff.
So whether it's food or water orsomething.
You know that it typically hasone of these really bad
chemicals in it.
And so that's been really hardfor me too because a lot of, uh,
(10:57):
materials and things for babiesare considered like water
resistant or stain resistant,And so a lot of these other,
products that we use in ourhouseholds are also laiden with
these really bad things.
And so it's really hard to kindof, navigate the world of these
toxic chemicals when they'repretty much everywhere nowadays,
(11:22):
but especially, especiallyimportant to get rid of them in
your cooking products becausethat's literally what you are
putting directly into your bodyevery single day, what you're
cooking on.
So I think when we, when we talkabout cookware or when I even
just think of cookware and whatto be wary of and to almost like
(11:43):
just completely avoid.
That is one of the number onethings.
But I wanna also talk aboutplastic because, and we've
talked a little bit aboutplastic and and stuff in the
past, but when you think aboutcookware or kitchenware or
dishes or anything that is inyour kitchen, plastic is another
one of those big things that Ihave been learning is just
(12:07):
something you want to a hundredpercent avoid at all costs.
And so we have been goingthrough the process of switching
everything out in our kitchen,which again, is so hard because
plastic is so nice because it'sdurable and long lasting.
But it also, similar to the PFASin non-stick pans.
(12:28):
Plastics will leach into yourfoods, especially when they are
heated up, but also when youhave any kinda liquid in a
plastic container.
So if you are using plastic tokeep your food leftovers in or
plastic to hold your liquids todrink from, so your cups, you
really wanna consider stayingaway from those and, and
(12:50):
potentially chucking them and,and getting something new
because that's anotherkitchenware item that can be
really dangerous.
Chrissy (12:59):
That is actually one switch that Max and I found
decently easy to change.
So we are currently in theprocess of moving just down the
road.
Uh, we're downsizing from athree bedroom house to a one
bedroom apartment, and in thisprocess, we have made the
decision to take this as anopportunity to get rid of a lot
(13:21):
of the plastic cups and platesand things that we have, and
replacing those with glass cupshas actually not been nearly as
expensive as I anticipated.
Literally last night we went outto Crate Barrel, which is not a
cheap place to find cookware.
If anything, it's one of thoseplaces that I would try to stay
(13:43):
away from because it's soexpensive.
But we found a 12 pack of glasscups for$36 that is with tax
included.
So I was very happy with that.
And honestly, in comparison toglass cups on Amazon or other
places like Walmart.
They were cheaper than Amazonand Walmart.
And Crate and Barrel has somegreat options for glass cups and
(14:04):
bowls and things like that.
So yeah, those are some thingsthat are pretty easy switches
and they're not super, superexpensive, like pots and pans
would be.
Katie (14:14):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great point.
So, yeah, so, okay, we talkedkind of a little bit about the
non-stick pots and pans,anything that has any, whenever
you just see that label, I mean,Teflon people already started
becoming a little wary of maybea decade or so ago.
But even if you just see a labelthat says non-stick, you know
(14:34):
that it has some not greatchemicals that make it
non-stick.
You wanna avoid plastic in yourkitchen for any kind of kitchen
product, especially actually.
Um, one of the big ones too iscutting boards.
Your plastic cutting boards.
Can be really bad because you'rechopping onto this plastic
board, which can then releasethese microplastics into your
(14:57):
food.
But then the little grooves inyour cutting board allow for
bacteria to sit in and kind ofmake a home in, and then you're
putting food back on top of it,which then can be exposed to
this bacteria.
So, uh, plastic cutting boardsshould be a huge no-no.
You wanna kind of look forsomething that is wood or even,
(15:19):
we've seen now these like kindof cool stainless steel things.
They're, they're kind of noisywhen you chop on them, but you
can look for those.
Chrissy (15:26):
Question about the stainless steel.
Does it dull knives faster?
Because I've heard that glasscutting boards can do that.
So I don't know, would stainlesssteel cutting boards be the same
way?
Katie (15:38):
You know, I could see that it might be a possibility
My mother got us.
Like a stainless steel cuttingboard for Christmas and we use
it every now and then.
I think it just like looksreally sleek, but I don't always
love the noise of it when you'rechopping like a, a bunch of
stuff really quickly.
'cause it's, it's much noisier.
(15:59):
It's got that clang to it versuslike a wood or bamboo or
something like that.
Like where it's a more dulled ofa noise.
So I could definitely see itbeing a problem of dulling your
knives, but I don't know, wehaven't been using it long
enough for me to like takenotice and it's not my go-to
cutting board.
'cause we have like other bambooones that I really like and I
(16:21):
choose first.
So the stainless steel one Iusually use as a last resort
more than my go-to.
But good question.
I don't know if anyone knows theanswer, let us know.
'cause now I'm curious, am I ifI'm ruining my knives with this
really cool cutting board.
Okay, so we talked a little bitabout the non-stick and the
plastic, but another big one toothat.
(16:43):
Can actually be kind of trickyto pinpoint in your, especially
bakeware, like if you have it ornot, is aluminum.
Now aluminum and stainless steellook very similar.
They're that kind of medley, youknow, cooking pan that you
typically have.
But a aluminum has been linkedwith things like, Alzheimer's
(17:06):
and other neuro challenges,neuro diseases even.
Um, there's a lot of toxicity toaluminum and it's something that
a lot of us kind of know.
You don't want to have aluminumin your anything.
The aluminum can be found inbaking powder.
(17:27):
And so when you're looking forbaking powder at the grocery
store, you wanna make sure it'slike aluminum free and you
always wanna look for deodorantthat doesn't have aluminum in it
as well.
But aluminum, same thing.
You, you wanna avoid it in yourkitchen because aluminum has
been linked to a lot of, um,illnesses and diseases, so it's
actually really hard.
I found that most baking trays,especially if they don't say
(17:54):
stainless steel on them, aretypically aluminum.
And people like companies getaway with this because.
Your average shopper going tothe store can't really tell the
difference.
There's a, you can kind of tellthe color shininess difference
between the two of them if youhave them side by side, but it's
really hard when you're justgoing down the aisle and you're
(18:17):
like, oh, these look good, andyou just kind of pick'em up from
target or something.
Chrissy (18:21):
I feel like aluminum also starts to have a little bit
of a metallic smell to it aftera while.
Currently, unfortunately, Istill actually have an aluminum
bread pan, which is kind ofironic because I grind my own
wheat to make bread, but then Icook it in an aluminum pan and
after a while it can, like whenI'm cleaning it after baking
(18:44):
bread, I can smell the metal init and it's on my list of things
to replace.
But you know, one thing at atime here, we're moving, so
that's enough on our page andfor our checkbook at the moment.
Katie (18:53):
Yes.
Yeah, well you think likesomething like metal, like
especially aluminum reacts withanything acidic or salty.
So if you have something saltythat you are cooking.
So I, I consider when we cookpotatoes, like if we do like
roasted chopped potatoes orsomething, we would like
(19:14):
sprinkle it with salt and maybeeven some like lemon juice or
something.
So that's both like salty andacidic.
It starts to wear and degradethat aluminum even more.
And that's when it really isstarting to leak into your food
and that is very, very bad.
And so you wanna be very carefulof that as well.
(19:37):
So those are like the three, Ithink.
Main things that come to mindthat, that I have learned that
we need to be really aware of.
Are there any other, like topones that, like things that you
can think of that we need toavoid in our kitchens?
Chrissy.
Chrissy (19:54):
You know, I actually did wanna touch on silicone
because it's kind of plasticy.
It's kind of rubbery, but it'salso considered safe, and I've
seen some mixed reviews on it.
I have seen that some people saythat if you're going to be using
your cooking utensils, you wanteither 100% silicone or wood or
bamboo.
(20:14):
I've also heard some people saythat silicone does leach into
your food if it's exposed tolike a high fat content or high
heat.
So if you're mixing somethinglike cake batter or something
like that, that has a very highfat content, that is something
that can actually cause thesilicone to leach into your
food.
Um, have you also heard aboutthat, Katie?
Katie (20:36):
So what I've learned about silicone, I kind of had to
go backwards a little bit andreally I like, I didn't even
know what silicone was.
I was like, is this a manmadeproduct?
Is it natural?
So silicone is actually madefrom sand, but where you can get
tripped up is, and you, you kindof hit the nail on the head, you
mentioned 100% silicone.
(20:57):
And that is really what you wantto look for when you get
anything silicone based, whetherit's like a household product or
a cooking product or anythingfor your baby.
'cause there's tons of thingsthat they make for kids that are
silicone and you wanna make sureit's a hundred percent silicone
because then it's that morenatural product.
If it's not a hundred percent,it can often be, um.
(21:23):
There can be like plasticadditives.
And so you just wanna be carefulwith what is in it if it's not a
hundred percent silicone.
And so a lot of the cheap, likeif you go to Target or Walmart
and you just find like the$2spatula, that's silicone, most
likely, that also has toxins init because it's probably not a
(21:47):
hundred percent.
So you just wanna be careful ofthat.
So you're, you're definitelyright.
Same thing actually, Chrissy, Ilearned with stainless steel,
you can actually advertisesomething as stainless steel,
even if it's not a hundredpercent.
And there's like a certainpercentage of it that you can
have of other stuff.
So in the case of cooking traysand stuff, what I learned is
(22:11):
that it might not be a hundredpercent.
And it might have aluminum in itactually.
And so then it's like, well, ifI'm trying to avoid aluminum,
you just have to be reallycareful that it is a hundred
percent stainless steel, if thatmakes sense.
Chrissy (22:26):
Don't.
They also advertise like apercentage or a fraction on
their stainless steel.
Like if you're shopping forstainless steel, you can look
for something like 1810 on it,and that can also kind of tell
you how good it is or bad it is.
Katie, I know you've done alittle bit more research on
that.
Do you wanna touch on that realquick?
Katie (22:46):
Yeah.
I actually, so when you're, Iguess we can kind of start
diving into a little bit more oflike.
Now.
Okay.
If we kind of covered like allthe things you wanna be really
careful about, but now let's getinto the more specifics of when
you're actually picking thingsout.
What are the best materials andyeah, what should we be looking
for?
(23:06):
Because obviously we've kind oftalked about stainless steel, so
let's, let's dive into that justa little bit more.
As I mentioned, you want it tobe a hundred percent.
Um, I don't actually knowexactly what this means, but I
wrote it down from somethingthat I was looking at, and so
you wanna double check theactual stainless steel grade
because apparently there can belower grades of stainless steel
(23:31):
versus like Yeah, like highergrade.
Lower grade.
I don't really understand it toomuch, but you do want to.
Look for the higher quality,which is considered the 1810
stainless steel.
And so I don't know if that'slike, what, what that fraction
means.
I don't know if it's like somany particles of something per
(23:52):
10, I don't even know.
But that is what I found in abook.
I wrote it down here, so thatway, if that means something to
you or just when you're lookingat the boxes of pans at your
home goods store, that is whatyou want.
Um, it's known to be more likecorrosion resistant and have
(24:13):
longer durability.
Honestly, as long as it is juststainless steel and isn't like,
it doesn't have the, any otherlike metal additives, I think
that you're good.
But it could just mean somethinglasts longer than something
else.
Chrissy (24:31):
I just looked it up.
Google is a beautiful thing.
Um, so apparently 1810 stainlesssteel means that it's made up of
18% chromium and 10% nickel,which means that it will be
extremely durable to both rustand corrosion and is really high
quality.
Katie (24:49):
There you go.
Good.
Way to go Google.
Well, yeah, obviously ingeneral, when you're looking at
products like not all stainlesssteel is made the same, right?
So that's kind of the moral ofthe story.
But when you're looking for potsand pans,'cause you're like,
okay, well now I have to go anddo all this crazy research to
(25:12):
determine which pans have this18, 10, and which ones are good
performing and which ones aren'tgonna, you know, degrade over
time.
But good news is that again,people have done lots of
research and there are some topbrands that have really good
reputations for being very longlasting, especially when they're
(25:33):
well cared for.
So some of the trusted brandsthat we have considered and some
that we even actually have arethe, the top one by far is all
clad and it's A LL dash CLAD.
You've probably seen all cladeither maybe in your home, your
parents' home, your grandma'shome.
(25:53):
You maybe have seen them in thestore.
It, it's a tried and truecompany when it comes to
stainless steel.
Another like the other two thatI came across that are also
really good are called, um, MadeIn.
So that's two words Made In, andthen the other one is Calphalon.
I've actually never said it outloud.
I've only written it before,which is funny.
(26:13):
I actually own one CalphalonPan, but these are, these are
the ones that are known to havelike higher quality stainless
steel.
So if you're looking for some,those are what you should go
with.
You will notice though, when youare shopping for them, they are
expansive, so just be aware ofthat.
What other cooking things areyou looking for, Chrissy?
(26:36):
When you, now that you're makingyour switch, are there any
specific materials or brandsthat you are going to look
forward to now replace your oldstuff.
Chrissy (26:47):
Yes.
so in addition to stainlesssteel, we're looking for
stainless steel for like thosepots, specifically for soups and
mac and cheese, of course,because I've gotta get my mac
and cheese in there.
Katie (26:57):
Gotta loveve your mac and cheese
Chrissy (26:59):
he.
Yep.
But then for our pans, becausewith our pans we like to saute a
bit more, and with the stainlesssteel, it's really hard to get
the stainless steel to anon-stick point.
It requires heating it up allthe way and then cooling it off
part of the way, and then addingcertain ingredients at a time,
(27:20):
and you have to keep it at aspecific temperature in order to
maintain that non-stick pointwith the stainless steel.
And honestly, that's a lot ofwork.
I am not very good at it, so Ifeel like it's really hard to
master.
And so for cooking things thatare more like sauteing, like
vegetables and chicken and eggsand things like that, we're
(27:41):
actually looking at, um, castiron.
And so we currently have onecast iron skillet and we love
it.
It's a Le Creuset brand and weuse it for, almost any like
larger dish that we cook on thestove.
We actually haven't had a grillin a very long time, and so
(28:02):
we've cooked chicken in it quitefrequently.
Um, most of our meats we cook ina cast iron.
And we love it.
Also, the nice thing about castiron is, so this might gross
some people out, but for somepeople it's really great if it
doesn't gross you out, is thatyou don't actually clean it
completely in between usesbecause the idea is to allow the
(28:25):
flavors to kind of get into thecast iron to season the pan.
So that with each use, your foodbecomes more and more flavorful
because the flavors of theprevious food is still in the
pan and then it just adds toyour next dish.
Which Max and I have found thatto be very beneficial in terms
of just adding flavor to meatthat's completely unseasoned.
(28:48):
And we love the flavor of themeat that we cook in our cast
iron.
And so, um, yeah, like I saidearlier.
We use the Le Creuset brand, butthere's a lot of really great
cast iron brands out there.
I just haven't really lookedinto them all that much.
Um, I do know they can be alittle bit more expensive, but
they're super easy to find onFacebook Marketplace and things
(29:10):
like that.
So that is probably where I'mgoing to look to get smaller
cast iron pans to replace ourlittle frying pan.
Katie (29:20):
Yeah, we love, love, love, love, love our cast iron
pans.
In fact, I think we do 80 to 90%of our cooking on our two that
we have.
We use them for everything.
The really cool thing about castiron is that you can use it on a
(29:42):
stove top, but they're also ovensafe.
And so you can, like, I makebiscuits in them, so I'll do,
like, I'll kind of put it inthere and then I'll put it into
the oven and then cook mybiscuits in that.
And they are just veryversatile.
They, like Chrissy said, um, youdon't wash them with any soap
because it actually, when youuse soap, it kind of takes away
(30:07):
the nons stickiness, and so youhave to season it after each of
your times that you use it eachcooking session, and you kind of
use some like olive oil or justany kind of fat or oil on it to
kind of season it and it locksin that non-ST stickiness.
So it's like a naturalnon-stick.
(30:29):
We tried some stainless steelpans that.
I found, um, like at the thriftstore and on Facebook
marketplace, we actually usestainless steel for our pots.
Actually, just like you said,Chrissy, we have like a steamer
basket, one that we really like,but man, I have tried cooking on
(30:49):
some pans with just like thesetiny stainless steel ones and
they are such a pain.
I've literally watched so manyvideos on that whole making it
non-stick and putting the waterdroplet on it.
I mean, literally watch thesevideos to be like, when is like
cooking properly on stainlesssteel?
They're very fascinating, butyeah, exactly like you said,
(31:10):
they're so hard to master andwe've kind of given up and.
Honestly, one of the best thingstoo about cast iron is that they
are literally made from iron.
And so when you cook in it, justlike your other materials that
you're using, they're typicallygetting into your food.
Well, there's certain ones thatyou really wanna avoid, but the
great thing about iron thesestainless or these cast iron
(31:32):
pans is that it's actuallyadding iron to your food, which
is actually good for you.
And a lot of us are irondeficient, and so it's a, it's
nice that you're cooking andyou're getting like a benefit
from your pan getting into yourfood in that sense.
So we personally use the brandLodge.
Oftentimes you can find them atthrift stores.
People get rid of them all thetime because it does, there's a
(31:55):
little bit of a learning curve,but I would say it's not as
difficult to master as.
The stainless steel pans are,they're, they're much easier and
they're easy to get, like tobounce back from.
Like, we burnt something sobadly the other day on our pan
and it was kind of a pain tolike get it all off and
everything, but they're totallyfine.
(32:17):
And it just took, honestly, ittakes like more cooking on it to
like get some of the bad stuffoff.
But yeah, so I really love them.
So, okay.
So stainless steel and castiron.
Chrissy, what else are you usingin your kitchen or looking for
in your move?
So one item that I got really,really excited about, I wanted
(32:40):
to try it a lot, was ceramiccookware.
I know Le Creuset has someceramic stuff.
Williams Sonoma has a ceramicline and Caraway is ceramic.
I think Green Pan also has aceramic line.
I was really, really excitedabout it because it claims to be
non-toxic and non-stick, and atfirst I was hesitant, like,
(33:02):
okay, how can something benon-stick and non-toxic at the
same time?
If you look at their websites,they.
Look like they're very safe, um,and they're durable and
non-toxic and everything likethat.
But the more research that I'vedone on like non-filtered areas
like Facebook where people canjust share their opinions and
(33:23):
it's not going to be filtered bysomebody who's making sure that
everything on social media lookscorrect um, for example, in our
Facebook group, CrunchyChristian Mamas on a Budget,
it's a place where people canshare their opinions and it's
not going to be filtered bythese large companies.
They can't really go in anddelete these comments because
it's, they're not in theFacebook group.
(33:45):
And so these comments, um,aren't deleted.
And so every time I would lookat these Google reviews for
these ceramic pans and pots andthings like that.
Um, I, they, all the Googlereviews looked super good that
they were safe and non-stick atthe same time.
It was like the best of bothworlds.
(34:06):
But then when I went to facebookgroups and other areas that are
not monitored by the company.
That's where I started to learn,okay, maybe these are actually
greenwashed a little bit, andthey do actually have toxins
that leach into your food.
So the ceramic specifically forcaraway, I believe has an
(34:29):
aluminum base that the ceramicis covering over top.
And so if the ceramic cracks forany reason or gets scratched in
any way, then you're immediatelygetting aluminum leaching into
your food, which is exactly whatwe're trying to avoid here by
getting non-toxic cookware.
And ceramic, historically isvery safe to use.
(34:50):
You know, we have plates andbowls and things that are
ceramic, and so they're reallygreat to use and they're super
safe.
But also like with cooking, youknow, ceramic is not completely
unbreakable, and so if it breaksor if it cracks or scratches,
then you're stuck withwhatever's underneath getting
into your food.
Now, if the bottom layer is castiron, then by all means, that's
(35:12):
probably great, but I haven'tfound that yet.
So, um.
Yeah, maybe something to createin a future business plan.
Who knows?
ceramic itself is actually very safe and
non-toxic, but just like yousaid, if it's a ceramic coated
pan, the moment that it chipsand you, whatever's underneath
it is exposed, which oftentimesit is some kind of aluminum or
(35:36):
other metal that is not good,then they're, those pans are
basically useless.
And so, yeah, same thing.
We considered doing caraway, butI, my friend actually got
caraway pans and hers chippedpretty quickly after she got
them, like within a few months.
And I was like, uh, if I'm gonnaspend that much money on pans, I
(35:57):
want to make sure that they'regonna last long and that I, I
don't have to be super delicateand gentle.
'cause like with my cast irons,they can take a beating and they
are fine afterwards, but it's,yeah, the caraway ones, I'm
like, mm-hmm.
Chrissy (36:10):
That was one of the things that I saw in the
Facebook, Facebook group chatsthat multiple people reported
with the caraway pans was themchipping within three months,
and that was really concerningto me.
I'm not gonna spend$500 on a newset of pots and pans only for it
to last me three months, so.
Katie (36:27):
Um, let's just touch on a few other materials that are
good in the kitchen and thenwe'll briefly just go over where
we can, like how we can findthese things for the, like in
the most affordable way.
Some of the other materials thatare just kind of safe in general
for any kind of cook stuff.
(36:50):
You know, stainless steel ispots and pans.
Even your cookware or yourbakeware.
If you find stainless steelbakeware, you can use glass a
lot of times in the oven.
So Pyrex is a really great brandfor.
Uh, loaf pans.
We use ours for loaf pans.
I also have just a traditionallike kind of tray that we put
(37:13):
baked items in.
So like sometimes if I dopotatoes or other veggies in the
oven, I'll put them in a glassPyrex that we have a hundred
percent silicone, like wementioned.
Chrissy (37:24):
Max, and I love our 9 by 13 Pyrex for making brownies.
Katie (37:30):
Yes.
Chrissy (37:30):
I feel like that's something that cooks the
desserts very, very well all theway through.
So Pyrex for desserts, 10 outta10 would recommend.
Katie (37:41):
I also love that Pyrex, a lot of their dishes come with
snap-on lids to them.
They often are plastic, whichyou just don't want to you.
You typically wanna hand washthem, so they don't like degrade
quickly over time, but you alsojust don't really want them
touching your food as much.
But the lids are really great.
We have a few that, yeah, whenyou're making brownies or a
(38:01):
casserole or something, you justbake it, put the lid on it, easy
for leftovers or bringing otherplaces.
So that's a really great option.
A hundred percent silicone.
Again, like we mentioned, ifyou're doing silicone in the
kitchen, just make sure it is ahundred percent.
This is really great for kidsitems that we have found because
they make so many kids.
(38:23):
Stuff like plates and bibs andsilverware and cups and
everything.
They make'em all from plastic,so that was a big one that we
actually had to switch was ourkids stuff.
And so we did switch tosilicone.
The other option for kids wouldprobably be stainless steel.
(38:43):
I've heard a lot of peoplereally enjoy stainless steel for
kids stuff, but Malachi rightnow likes to throw all of his
kitchen things, and I justcannot imagine a stainless steel
plate hitting the floor all thetime.
That would just be so noisy andso obnoxious.
And so we decided to go withsilicone for his stuff.
(39:06):
Another material that is goodand safe in the kitchen and is
non-toxic is wood, and that'stypically you wanna use wood for
your cutting boards or for yourmixing like your utensils, so
your spoons and spatulas andstuff.
That's good in wood.
Chrissy (39:25):
One thing to be aware of with wood though, is a lot of
them are coated with some sortof a lacquer or something like
that.
So you wanna make sure it'scoated with something that's
natural, like a mineral oil orlike a tallow or something.
If it's coated with anythingthat says lacquer in it, I would
stay away from that.
(39:45):
That's not very good to have.
There is one thing on Amazonthat I was looking at it, and
it's like if you search for, uh,non-toxic cooking utensils on
Amazon, it's one of the firstthings that comes up.
And this bamboo cooking utensilset is coated with a quote
unquote natural cotton lacquer.
(40:08):
And I don't know what that is,but I think I'm gonna try to
stay away from that one becauseit says the word lacquer, even
though it's made from a naturalcotton, essentially, I haven't
been able to find out exactlyhow it's made.
And so because the.
Website is not clear on how theymake this natural cotton
(40:30):
lacquer.
I'm gonna say it's probably notas safe as they are claiming it
to be.
Um, that's another thing.
If you're looking for something.
That you think is going to benon-toxic and you are trying to
figure out how they make it inorder to understand its toxicity
and you can't find that sort ofinformation, then it's probably
(40:52):
not as non-toxic as they areclaiming, because they're
probably trying to hide how theymake that item.
So that's just another thing tokeep in mind.
Katie (41:01):
Definitely, yeah.
Wood can be hard.
You do need to take good care ofyour cutting boards and things.
This is something I actuallylearned recently is that you
want to, uh, like oil them.
Pretty regularly becauseespecially with bamboo boards,
they eventually get really dry.
(41:22):
You think?
I mean, just wood in general.
The, the reason why your tablesaround your house have this nice
shine to it is because they arecoated with chemicals to protect
the wood over time from justdisintegrating.
If you leave wood out in nature,it will eventually break down
and turn into dust.
(41:43):
But with your cookware, itdoesn't have that protective
coating like your tables would,and so you need to oil it
regularly.
I learned this because ourcutting boards just got so dried
up and almost like wanted tolike splinter and everything.
So we, we got this oil to then.
(42:05):
Keep them good over time.
I can link to the one that wegot because I did do some
research on like there'sspecific oils that you want and
that you want them to, those tobe non-toxic and organic and
everything.
So
Chrissy (42:18):
I am actually very sad about some of our wood cutting
boards.
So my husband's aunt makescutting boards out of wood and
like that's one of her sidegigs.
And so she made us some handmadecutting boards for our wedding
as a wedding gift.
And at the beginning of ourmarriage, we were really, really
good at taking care of them.
(42:39):
We would rub them down withbeeswax after using them, and it
was really helpful in keepingthem nice and moisturized.
So they didn't splinter oranything like that, but
unfortunately we had not beenvery good about that recently.
And one of them splintered likehalfway down the cutting board,
which made me so sad.
There's just like this giantcrack now in the middle of it,
(43:01):
and I am like thinking of waysthat we could potentially fix it
Then, I'm also thinking of likenon-toxic ways to fix it.
I am gonna be cutting food onit, you know, so wood glue is
not ideal.
But yeah, so definitely if youget some of those wooden
utensils or wooden cuttingboards, just make sure you keep
(43:23):
them moisturized with some sortof mineral oil or beeswax or
something else tallow that'sgood for them to keep them
lasting longer so that you don'thave to just continue buying
cutting boards.
Katie (43:35):
So if you're gonna do ceramic, look for a hundred
percent.
Same thing with enamel.
I've heard enamel, it can bereally good as long as you find
a good quality enamel, pot orpan or something like that.
So I don't know exactly whatthat means, if it's go a good
quality because I have notresearched into it enough.
(43:55):
But if you're gonna do that, dosome research to find out and
maybe let us know because I'mkind of curious what is, what is
good when it comes to enamel.
Yep.
Actually, you know, I justremembered.
the one thing that we do have inour kitchen that is
enamel,
Um, is actually our Dutch oven.
(44:16):
It's actually
enamel,
Coated cast iron.
Um, and so I actually use this,I, I primarily use it for baking
bread, but I've actually, I'veused it for like making soups
and stock.
Um, and because it is cast iron.
Like it, it has cast iron in thecenter and it's just coated.
(44:37):
You actually can use it on thestove.
But you can put things in the oven with them.
You can actually use them aslike a baking vessel.
So I've heard that it's a reallygreat place to cook like a whole
chicken.
So if you're like trying toroast a whole chicken, you can
put it into a Dutch oven,
Chrissy (44:54):
What brand is your Dutch oven?
Katie (44:56):
It is Sir La Table
Chrissy (45:00):
Love Sir La Table
Katie (45:02):
Yeah, I, I kind of inherited it slash stole it from
my mother-in-law.
Shout out to Pam.
Thank you very much.
Um, it was in her kitchen and Iwas getting into baking
sourdough bread many years agoand you typically need a Dutch
oven for that.
And she had it and wasn't usingit, and it was in the back of
her pots and pans and I waslike, can I just borrow this for
(45:25):
a little bit and see if I likeit?
And she's like, just take it.
I think I've used it one timeand she got it like early in
their marriage or something.
So now it is mine.
Thank you Pam, very much forthat.
I love it.
And I actually, we were tryingto find it in all of our boxes
in our storage right now, likeour storage unit.
Because I don't have it at themoment.
Um, and we have not been able tofind it in all of our boxes, and
(45:48):
I'm really kind of bummed.
But there's, there's other waysto bake bread and to do other
things.
I just really enjoy my Dutchoven.
It's just kind of a bummer thatI don't have it, but just gotta
wait.
Gotta be patient.
But let's jump into really quickbefore we end this episode.
Where are you finding your potsand pans, Chrissy?
'cause as we've mentioned a fewtimes, when you're looking for
(46:12):
these types of things, they'regoing to last a long time.
If you invest in a good set ofpots and pans and bakeware, and
spatulas and cutting boards andall the things, they're going to
last a long time.
If you get the good qualitystuff, but it's so expensive,
what are you doing to make thismore affordable?
Is it just unavoidable that youhave to just bite the bullet and
(46:36):
buy something really expensive?
What are your tips, Chrissy?
Chrissy (46:39):
So two things.
First thing, don't buy it all atonce.
You can do one pot a month orone pan a month kind of thing,
and then months later, boom,you've replaced your entire
collection.
And so I would recommend thatstrategy.
If you're one of those peoplewho's super hesitant about
secondhand items by buy one pota month, I know in the end that
(47:02):
probably you end up spending alittle bit more money if you buy
each pot or.
Pan individually instead of justone huge collection.
But that is one way that youcould get them slowly but surely
over time.
A second method is you couldjust save money.
You know, if you plan for it,you save for it.
Dropping$500 on a very highquality cookware set is not a
(47:26):
bad financial decision.
You just have to plan for it andcreate space in your budget in
order to do that.
Um, the method that Max and Iare doing is Facebook
Marketplace because we don'treally mind secondhand items,
especially with cookware.
I'm like, you can wash it andit's good.
So Facebook Marketplace forsure, probably thrift stores
also, although I have to findsome good thrift stores because
(47:50):
there are not many good onesnear me.
But thrift stores definitelyhave some good options.
Um, grandma's kitchen, IE yourown grandmother who maybe
doesn't use her cast iron orstainless steel anymore.
Um, grandma's are always a greatplace to get hand me down
cookware, especially if shedoesn't use it anymore.
(48:11):
So see if you can, get any ofyour cookware off of your
grandparents or your parents,because I'm sure parents.
And grandparents just lovegiving their old stuff to their
grandkids and to their kids ingeneral.
So those are some places that Iwould recommend.
What about you, Katie?
I.
Katie (48:29):
Well, yeah.
One of my favorite things is tobuy things secondhand.
I love Facebook Marketplace andI actually will set up little
notifications on FacebookMarketplace for certain items
that I'm looking for, such aslike All Clad stainless steel
pots and pans.
So we did buy a handful of themfrom Facebook Marketplace.
(48:54):
The other thing that I recommendchecking out if you are really
wanting to invest in the kind ofmore expensive, high quality
items, such as all clad, is tolook into their factory seconds.
A lot of companies offer whatare called factory seconds, and
it's kind of exactly what itsounds like.
(49:15):
It's anything that came outtatheir factory and didn't make
kind of the top quality checksfor being sold to customers at
traditional prices.
So these are their products thatmight have some scratches or
dents or discolorations or thebranding like logo on the pot or
Pan is not centered, orbasically they're just not a
(49:38):
hundred percent perfect, butthey're still a hundred percent
usable.
But what that means for you andI is that they sell them at
lower prices.
Now, you're still going to bepaying probably hundreds of
dollars for these pots or pansbecause again, they're still
really, really good, but you'regoing to get a pretty decent
discount for them.
(49:59):
So for something like All Clad,you can look up all clad Factory
seconds.
I believe that Lodge, the castiron company also does factory
seconds, but a lot of these bigname companies do offer them.
Or on their website, they mighthave like a page where it says
like.
Some sort of like seconds ordiscounted prices.
(50:20):
So it's just going to not be ahundred percent perfect.
So if you're okay with that,then definitely check that out.
It might be a really great wayto save maybe a hundred bucks on
your next set of cookware.
So let us know if it works outfor you.
I will actually add a link whereI kind of go a little bit more
in depth on this, on a blogarticle that I wrote a long time
(50:41):
ago actually, um, on findingfactory seconds.
So you can do that for anythingfor, from cookware to clothing
items.
So definitely look for thosekinds of deals.
have anything else you wannaadd, Chrissy, before we sign off
today?
Chrissy (50:57):
Nope.
Should I?
No.
Katie (50:59):
No, unless you wanna give us some words of wisdom.
Chrissy (51:02):
Words of wisdom.
Make sure you buy boxes whenyou're moving, even if you're
just moving 10 minutes down theroad.
Just going back and forth, backand forth, back and forth.
It's really annoying.
Just buy boxes.
Don't be cheap.
It's not wise.
It.
Katie (51:18):
Well, hey, I, I'm gonna add a bit onto that.
Don't buy boxes.
You should go find them used.
Actually, I talk about this in aYouTube video about our move.
We just moved also acrosscountry and we did not actually
buy a single box, but we hadprobably a hundred or so boxes
(51:38):
because we posted on ourFacebook page asking for boxes
from our friends and family.
And we also just looked onFacebook Marketplace.
People get rid of boxes for freeall the time, Chrissy.
So no excuses.
Chrissy (51:51):
You know, one of my patients tried to pawn 15 bins
off on me, but then it floodedand her son was unable to get
the bins from her house becauseher street flooded literally the
day before I was supposed tomove.
So I almost had 15 free bins,but then I didn't.
So that's unfortunate.
Maybe another time.
Next move.
Next move.
(52:11):
Okay.
Katie (52:11):
Good words of wisdom.
All right.
Why don't you sign us off?
Chrissy (52:15):
Thank you guys for tuning into our conversation
today about cookware and goodand bad things to look out for
with cookware.
Make sure you subscribe and joinus over on our Facebook group,
Crunchy Christian Mamas on abudget where we will be
continuing this conversation.
We would love to hear from youand hear what resonated with
you, what kind of cookware worksbest for you and what doesn't,
(52:37):
and we will see you next time.
Until then, this is Chrissy.
Katie (52:41):
And this is Katie.
Chrissy (52:42):
And thanks for listening to Crunchy
Stewardship.
Bye.
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