Every few years the coating on a cheap frying pan wears through and the pan goes to landfill. You buy another one. By the sixth replacement you have spent more than a cast iron skillet costs. You have nothing left to sell.
A Lodge cast iron skillet costs about €45. It has no coating to fail. The pan is one piece of poured iron. Lodge has cast it in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, since 1896. Cast iron does not wear out. A good one lasts fifty years, and plenty of them get handed down instead of thrown away. The Dutch kitchen trade rates the material as vrijwel onverslijtbaar, virtually indestructible.
Then the money. A budget nonstick pan sells for around €20 and lasts two to five years before the surface fails. Call it three years. Over twenty-five years you buy that pan six or seven times and spend roughly €130. Each dead pan resells for nothing. The Lodge is €45 once. Used cast iron holds a floor on Marktplaats. The average pan still asks €24. Heritage pieces clear €40 to €75. You buy the skillet a single time and it stays worth money.
| Lodge cast iron skillet | Budget nonstick pan | |
|---|---|---|
| Buy price | €45 | €20 |
| Lifespan | 50 years to generations | 2 to 5 years |
| Cost over 25 years | €45, one pan | about €130, six to seven pans |
| Resale after 25 years | holds €24 to €40, still cooks | €0, landfill |
The seasoning is where a cast iron pan turns into an asset. Every time you cook, a thin layer of oil bonds to the iron. The surface grows darker and slicker. A pan you have used for ten years cooks better than the day you bought it. This is the patina dividend in its plainest form. The Lodge improves from its first use. Vintage American cast iron from Griswold and Wagner now sells for many times its original price.
Care costs nothing. You rinse it hot, wipe it dry, and rub in a little oil. It skips the dishwasher and never needs a replacement part.
Verdict: €45 once for a pan that outlives you and still sells, against a coated pan you rebuy every three years for nothing back.