Table of Contents
If you are prepared to put away a tidy sum of money, then you can get non stick pans that last forever. The beauty of these non-stick pans is that they are particularly handy for beginner cooks, making it possible to turn out a decent meal. The notion ‘when to throw away non stick pans’ does not come into the picture when you invest money in excellent cookware like this.
However, not everyone can invest in very expensive pots. Pans, lids, cutting boards … Kitchen utensils are not eternal and there is no ideal material to put in contact with food (although some have more advantages than others). Its deterioration can occur for various reasons: improper use, such as when we use metal cutlery on non-stick pans; incidents or oversights, such as when we forget a container in the microwave for too long; or simply wear and tear, as occurs for example with a cutting board. In this article, we explain what are the signs that they must be renewed and why we must do it.
There are some of us who hold onto our cookware for decades. We do not like to throw them out, because they are still ultimately serving a purpose, even though they have become very much ‘stick’ pans. Not only that, over time, if you have dunked your hot pan into a sink of water, it shocks the metal, warping it and you sit with a wobbly pan on your stove plate.
There are some brands of cookware that are used by top chefs around the world, simply because they are known to be non-stick and in fact, they come with a lifetime guarantee, offering chefs and ordinary cooks uncompromising quality.
When they are scratched and peeling is when to throw away non stick
But what about the ordinary single people, couples, and families trying to cook with ease? What about their ordinary non-stick cookware? How long will it last? Even pans that do not come with lifetime guarantees offer a host of benefits not to be ignored.
If you are on a mission to cook with less oil, these pans because they are non-stick, require less oil, and sometimes even no oil at all. The food does not stick to the pan and washing up afterward is super easy. You never need any kind of hard, abrasive materials to get your pan clean.
Just dip it into the warm soapy water and wash it off with a sponge. Remember to only use wooden or plastic spoons in your cookware that would not scratch the surface.
The answer to the question ‘when to throw away non stick pans’ is always an ‘it depends’ kind of answer. Non-stick pans do not last forever, and when you start to see the non-stick coating becoming thin in places and wearing off, you either need to replace your cookware or repair it.
Much depends on how you care for your cookware
Non-stick pans typically last anything between 2 and 5 years but a lot depends on how you look after your pan too and the quality of the pan you bought. Some cookware experts say that to look after your pan, you should not allow it to heat to temperatures above 500ºF. This is because the pan starts to deteriorate and small fragments are released.
When to throw away non stick pans
When to throw away non stick pans is something you should only worry about in a few year’s time. You can use non-stick safely, but the idea is to simply follow some easy precautions to ensure its longevity.
Some safety tips for a non-stick pan are to never preheat an empty pan, do not cook on high heat and if you can, choose a heavier kind of non-stick pan.
Possibly one of the more important tips is to avoid using metal utensils on your non-stick pan. When storing this non-stick cookware, put some paper toweling in between the different pots and pans to avoid them scratching each other.
You can usually expect up to 5 years of usage
Non-stick pans are generally coated with PTFE-Teflon and these will last about 3 years. Sometimes when people hand their pans in to be repaired, the pan is given multi-layer PTFE coatings and then they will last a lot longer and maybe you can push for 8 – 10 years of usage.
Then again, some people will say that even if a pan has got multiple layers, it will be a non-stick pan for many years, but the top layer will inevitably start to peel. Many of the high-end cookware brands use this method – applying several layers of the non-stick coating. This is when you will have bits of this coating being whipped up into your food, and that is not a good thing healthwise.
As you can see there are no hard and fast rules as to when to throw away non stick pans but if you are not prepared to repair them and prefer to go with new ones, you can look at 3 to 5 years of use from your non-stick pan.
