[spacemark]

Metal spatulas aren't an option for most, either, as they scratch pans. So what's the suggested realistic alternative? Wood?

Edit: wasn't trying to be snarky or anything. Honestly concerned for my family's health and trying to figure out the best path. Wood spatulas it is. Replacing all our PTFE pans with much more expensive cast iron pans isn't an option for our budget right now. Plus I haven't seen convincing scientific evidence that PTFE is as harmful as people here seem to imply. My understanding could be outdated though.

[chongli]

Nonstick pans are covered with plastic; that’s what PTFE is.

The answer is wood and metal tools with stainless steel, carbon steel, cast iron, glass, stoneware, and enameled cast iron cookware and bakeware. Aluminum bakeware is also great once you put a layer of seasoning on it to protect the aluminum from corrosion.

[Gravityloss]

Wood spatulas are great. They are also cheap. If you have a fireplace, you can even burn them at the end of life so very little waste!

[usea]

Burning wood in your fireplace is much more certain to harm you than using plastic in your cookware, and the harm is more severe.

[DowagerDave]

burning garbage doesn't create any waste? You could just put it in your organics/composting...

[asow92]

I've been a fan of using stainless steel spatulas on cast iron for years now and it doesn't seem to scratch or degrade the "seasoning" on the cast iron in any apparently meaningful way.

[0_____0]

Seasoning isn't that precious either. I accidentally left my cast iron on the stove and burned off most of the seasoning, took it as an opportunity to smooth out the surface with sandpaper, gave it a couple of coats of canola and put it back into service. Within a couple of days it was basically where it was before.

I also do 70% of my cooking in that pan!

[is_true]

it's all about the angle, wood utensils are usually softer and rounder so they are safer.

I accidentally removed a little of the "seasoning" of a cast iron and in the following uses it started to come out around the scratch.

Where I live there's another plus to wood utensils, I can help the people that make them locally

[stronglikedan]

Yes, wood is one. Why not wood?

[toast0]

Wood food working implements get stained, develop cracks and chips that may retain bacteria, can't go through the dishwasher, may have finishes we'll all be concerned about later, etc.

They're my least favorite to clean and most likely to throw away because I can't get them cleaned.

[diffeomorphism]

Glue e.g. in bamboo spatulas, porosity and bacteria, hardness for scraping etc.

Usually you would use different materials for different tasks.

[tkone]

the scratch non-stick pans, which also are horrible for your health.

cast iron, stainless steel.

[mtalantikite]

Lodge cast iron pans are like $20 and will outlast your grandchildren. You can get a set of them for < $100. Carbon steel are more expensive, but are easier to handle and I think are worth investing in at least one for daily use. They'll also last generations.

[s1artibartfast]

+1 for carbon steel over cast iron. They heat much faster and my wife wife doesn't need my help to lift them.

[spacemark]

Cool, appreciate the tip! I'll check them out.

[the__alchemist]

Metal. I haven't noticed scratches, and have been using exclusively my whole adult life. I suspect my pans are covered in superficial scratches, but I don't notice.

[DoughnutHole]

Presumably you’re not using Teflon pans then, because there’s no way you wouldn’t notice the non-stick surface getting destroyed by metal utensils.

There’s also a potential health argument against cooking with Teflon pans to begin with, but people do and those people shouldn’t be using metal if they want their pans to stay non-stick for any reasonable length of time.

[bpodgursky]

They only scratch nonstick pans. Just use stainless steel, it's not that hard to clean.

[ebiester]

It's not about cleaning. It's about the increased amount of oil needed to prevent delicate foods like eggs and fish from sticking. That adds cost and calories.

[Melatonic]

Why not silicone ?

[crazydoggers]

Yes, exactly. I can’t believe how little mention of silicon and wood there is here.

Silicon is much more resistant to heat and chemicals. I believe the polymers are also more tightly bound.

I also think people cook too much on nonstick. Non stick has a place in the kitchen for specific dishes. But for the most part you can cook most things in a combination of high quality stainless steel pans and cast iron. Some food sticking in stainless is a good thing (Maillard reaction), deglaze the pan and scrape it up with a good wood spatula.

[erikerikson]

Use cast iron pans. I used to love my non-stick pans but I would never go back.

[timeon]

Where I'm from wooden are norm for stirring while cooking. Plastic are used as well but after the food is already cooked.

[bongodongobob]

Using non-stick pans and worrying about plastic spatulas is wild, imo.