Best cheap cast iron frying pans

I always thought cast-iron pans were expensive. Turns out you can get an affordable cast iron frying pan for less than $20 these days. 

They're heavy of course, but they'll last for generations. 

The Lodge Logic cast iron fillets are made with an extra handle for easy lifting and moving about the stove and two side spouts to make pouring sauce or juice easier. 

The main advantage of cast iron is that once hot, they remain hot. This means your food will be fried to an even temperature. 

They're also very sturdy pans which can be used on open fires, in the oven and of course on the stove. 

Cast iron pans will last a life time and beyond. 

The cast logic pans come pre-seasoned with their own vegetable oil mix. 

This means you can use them out of the box. 

Still, should rust appear you should re-season them. Here's the procedure:

1. Clean well using hot water and a scouring pad, no soap. 
   • If really crusty, you can just put them in a self-cleaning oven and let the oven do the heavy lifting. Getting rid of cooked on charcoal and stuff really can get tough if you don't let heat do the work for you. Half an hour on a campfire or hot charcoal fire will work as well. 
   • Steel wool is a great way to get rid of rust
2. Dry the pan with cloth or paper. Don't let the moist dry on the air, you'll be creating new rust. 
3. Put the pan in the oven at 200 F for a few minutes to dry the pan fully and open up the pores in the iron. 
4. Using linseed (aka flaxseed) oil coat your entire pan. Make sure it's a foodgrade oil that's within date and hasn't gone rancid. 
5. Using paper or cotton towels, clean OFF the flaxseed oil entirely. Yes really: this will make sure you don't overdo it, and there WILL be flaxseed oil left on the pan, just a very fine film of it. 
6. Turn up your oven to 500 degrees F (or as high as it goes) and put in the pan to heat with the oven. Keep it in there for an hour after the temparature is reached. Let the pan cool with the oven

Since you started with a seasoned pan, this will get you a pan that's good enough for cooking and frying, but the experts do recommend redoing this 6 times to be sure! 

However, this is the way to season the pan that will last longest, which is definitely worth something in my book. 

Other seasoning oils and fats include Crisco or bacon drippings. They will do the trick, but the seasoning will wear off more quickly. 

The reason vegetable oils are reputed to leave you with a sticky pan is that they are put on in layers that are too thick, or not heated well enough.