What cooking pots to buy?

[SidewinderINC]

Ok, I know there's plenty of cooking guru's on this forum which is great :D

I'm in the market to buy a couple of pots for my new flat and I want to buy some quality ones that'll cook well, retain heat, not burn etc.
I'm using an electric hob for now (grumble grumble) but will hopefully be back to gas in a year.

I'll only need 2 nice sized probably as I've got 3 triangular pots that I can do small amounts of stuff in.

Not sure what sort of budget I'm looking at as I've no idea what's good and what's not :)


Can anyone help me out :)

Cheers :D

[Muban]

I can't recommend le creuset pots and Pans enough. I now have 5 Pans, 1 oval casserole, 1 terrine, 1 shallow buffet casserole and 1 frying pan. I've had them 15 years and they are still like new. I also have recently bought a large heavy bottomed stainless steel stock pot, but that's because I am mad on making soupd and chutneys.

If you do go for le creuset, bargains can be had by buying sets rather than individually.

EDIT: *Works out price of what she would have to spend to replace it all* *faints*

OOO they do doufeus now too! But not in my colour :(

[Mark]

Just be prepared for some weightlifting if they're anything like the Le Creuset I've had experience of. :)

[Muban]

They are heavy yes :). But they retain heat very well so you don't need to use excessive amounts of heat. The casseroles are very attractive too so are good if you want to just take them to the table and serve from there (staying hot too so keeping the food warm).

[Mark]

It's the oval casserole I'm thinking of, and yes, I agree they're good. Look after them and they'll serve you well for many years. :)

[Flibster]

The cast iron pans are usually really cheap at car boot sales....
People buy them, then find them too heavy to use. :D Means cheap pans for me. :D

[lostkat]

My Mum's had one of her cast iron Le Creuset casseroles for 25 years and it's still brilliant. I have a couple of bits, but I've also bought a cast iron Le Creuset style casserole from Ikea at a fraction of the cost of the real McCoy. It seems good enough to cook in. Probably won't last as long, but maybe I'll be able to afford some of the proper stuff when it wears out ;)

If you're going for something Stainless Steel, make sure it's got a really thick base... but I assume you know that already? Right now is the perfect time to go out cookware shopping because of all the sales. I picked up a brilliant pan set a couple of years ago for 1/4 what it was supposed to be.

[Grandad]

we have some Tefal Jamie Oliver ones , they wear well , clean easy and handles stay cool , big frying pan is superb

[Mark]

Aye, some people may slate Tefal stuff but that's what I've got and I've had no trouble.

The Le Creuset I was referring to was my mum's, and I suspect it's also a few decades old, though I've lost track of time there.

[lostkat]

I honestly can't say that I've ever heard anything bad about Tefal :confused: OK, so professional chefs don't use it, but that doesn't mean it's bad quality. I always thought Tefal did pretty good quality, affordable stuff. You really can get too snobby with this sort of stuff. I was reading Good Food the other day and it mentioned that Jamie Oliver had a new cast iron cookware range out with Tefal. It actually looks really nice and cheaper than the Le Creuset stuff too. Only prob is it's the wrong colours for my kitchen. I also have Tefal scales, coffe/sugar/tea pots and a few other bits from one of their retro ranges.

[Grandad]

I was reading Good Food the other day and it mentioned that Jamie Oliver had a new cast iron cookware range out with Tefal.

this is the stuff we have I think

http://www.cookware.co.uk/shop/Cookware/JamieOliverHardAnodised/d1/sd189

[FakeSnake]

http://www.cookware.co.uk/shop/Cookware/T304®ProAnodised/d1/sd70

This is the stuff I have
I love it

[SidewinderINC]

Aye, that's the stuff I was looking at FS. More in my budget too.

The Le Creuset pots look fantastic but at £50 a pop a little out of my range currently :p

[Jonny69]

I DON'T recommend those Meyer hard anodised ones. They are nice pans but they haven't lasted very well compared to my Tefal set which has lived through all the abuse I have given them. Noe of the hard anodise is left, it just dissolves off in time as you wash them and the teflon coating isn't as durable as my old Tefal ones. I would recommend save half your money and buy Tefal instead because they are just as good. Not the cheap Tefal ones in Woolies with the nasty handles, they do some that are a little more expensive but the quality is much better.

[SidewinderINC]

There is a Tefal set in sainsburys at the moment down from £100 to £50 that I saw yesterday evening.
I think I'll take a closer look at them to tide me over if what you say is true Jonny, and I don't have any reason to doubt you.

[Muban]

Eep I didn't realise how expensive it was these days. It would cost me at least £600 to replace what I have!!! Just as well they last for decades :shocked:

[SidewinderINC]

Yeah hehe, the "limited edition" junk I bought from sainsburys will last me about a year or so probably but it was £50 for the whole set rather than one pot. It's only aluminium but the Tefal non stick is really good in my experience.

[Mark]

I'm with Jonny69 on the Meyer pans. It was the lids (and handles) that suffered on my parents set. I'll stick to Tefal thanks. :)