I bought my cast iron set from Rural King. It came with the Dutch Oven, 3 skillets, a griddle, the lid lifter. I got it for $49.00. You might see if they have a website and if they would have it available.

 

Go to yard sales and flea markets. Most can be had for a few bucks.


Patty

 

I have a whole gob of stuff on cast iron that I wrote.

In a nutshell: yard sales and ebay!

 

In the Seattle area, thrift stores are plentiful and it is very common to see old cast iron cookware for sale at really cheap prices. The thing I like about buying used is that it often already has many years of seasoning. I notice you are in Oregon. My most favorite thrift store is Value Village and I notice they have some in Oregon. Here is a link to their locations in OR.

http://valuevillage.com/whoweare/us/or.php

Also, I see cast at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores but seem to see more at VV.

 

I just bought a Lodge Logic cast iron set at a Sporting Store (Scheels). It is very nice. Pre-seasoned $45

I also bought a 12 quart deep unseasoned cast iron dutch oven - even better (Texas-something brand - can't recall all the brand name) ($29)

I noticed our local Wal-mart sells the Lodge Logic cast iron pieces individually and they are less expensive than what I bought mine for in the other store.

I also have hand-me-down pieces. Be sure those you find in garage sales aren't cracked. A bit of rust is OK because you can just clean up and reseason.

 

Lodge Logic is the pre-seasoned cast iron pieces from Lodge which is one of the oldest manufacturers of cast iron cookware in the US. Lehmans Hardware sells it. Not all of the pieces come as Logic nor do all the pieces come as unseasoned.

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemID=697&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=696&iSubCat=697&show48=1

 

Cabela's has new ones at a reasonable price.

 

An online site with info and products. I know nothing more about them.

http://castironcookware.com/

 

There is a huge 52 mile garage sale this weekend on my HWY, I'll have to take a drive and see what I can find. I don't know if it's just where we are but I never see any cast iron at the thrift stores. I don't go to that many garage sales though and maybe that's where they are all at.

Thank you so much for all your help!

 

I'll tell you one thing about cast iron cookware, the skillet makes the "Best" Chicago style deep dish pizza in your oven.

 

I have a whole gob of stuff on that subject that I wrote: richsoil.com/castiron

In a nutshell: yard sales and ebay!

I agree that e-bay is a good source. But... make sure that the seller knows what they are doing when they pack it for shipping. We've had a few pieces get broken (mostly lids off of kettles) because they weren't packed well enough. Always buy the insurance.

For some reason people think that, because it's so heavy, cast iron won't break. While the reality is that it could shatter if dropped. :shrug:

 

I second Lodge as a reliable company. They operate in a town of around 6,000 people, so it makes me feel good to support them. Be sure you buy cast iron that's american made!

 

I "inherited" a Griswold chicken fryer with lid from my M-I-L; she gave it to me when she moved to a smaller house. Hubby completed my Griswold set via e-Bay. He had good experiences and fortunately everything arrived in tip-top shape.

I've seen lots of cast iron at thrift stores and even some pretty reasonably priced pieces in antique stores.

 

I bought cast iron skillets at a store around here called "Big Lots"-not sure if you have them in your state-inexpensive prices-decent quality. I also bought some cast iron cookware from K-Mart-Martha Stewart Brand-good. My MIL got me some"LOGDE" cast iron cookware-it's excellent (was preseasoned). I believe, if not mistaken, she got the "LODGE" from Tractor Supply CO. I have a wood-burning cookstove up at the cabin and that's all I use on it. Hope you find some! Take Care.

 

I buy Lodge cookware at places like 'Tuesday Morning' and TJMaxx.

 

I have always got mine at Ace Hardware stores. At least around here they always have a good selection of them.

 

Might try here I have some coupons I could gve you.
http://www.bargainoutfitters.com/search/search.asp?r=MainHeader+KW+Box&a=browse&k=cast+iron+cookware

 

For the best deals in cast iron go to the appliance repair places, people often move and forget their cast iron stashed in the stoves lower tray. The appliance people will pick and save what ever they want, the rest is available for sale.

Or get closer to the source, by contacting the scrap metal haulers, the ones that specialize in appliances, they will have long trailers. Catch them at gas stations or wait until 12:00 noon and ambush them waiting for the scrap metal yards to re open after lunch.

Scrap metal yards close for lunch because it takes all to be constantly present for it to run smoothly. The sellers line up at the gates. The sellers are rough looking crowd, thats because they don't have enough money to be prim and proper, but they are fully human otherwise.

Bringing a 6 pack to trade is common... Just make sure its cold. BT,DT

 

My son just bought me a cast iron cook pot that was made in the USA. He got it at Tractor Supply. Very nice pot. We've already used it three times for cooking over the fire. We cook outside a lot, especially in warm weather.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

 

I have never had a piece of Lodge to my knowledge - but I have bought new cast iron and was never pleased with it. NO matter how hard I 'seasoned' it, it just didn't please me.

For that reason, I buy at garage sales, thrift stores, etc.

For many years I collected cast iron and when we sold the farm, I sold a lot of mine - really wish I had kept the Griswold waffle maker and the popover pans.

 

I don't know where most of mine came from, they are mainly old hand me downs, but about a month ago I purchased a Lodge 12" skillet from walmart. Mainly because it was a good price and I needed it for camping.

When I got it home I noticed it had a crack in it right by the handle and it ran all the way down to the base.
I took it back and went to the camping/hunting section again and looked for another. There were three cast iron skillets on the shelf with the handles broken clear off.

I've never had trouble with the Lodge brand, but this made me wonder if they had a bad batch or something. :shrug:


I love my cast iron and have never had trouble with Lodge before this.

 

Tractor Supply has Lodge Logic, FWIW



Dave

 

I have a cast iron tortilla pan I just love, they sell them at the local store for about $14.00 . I love cast iron to cook in.

 

Fred's here! They sell three sizes (4,10,and 14inch id guess) pans by Lodge ranging from $6 to $10 bucks. Best deal Ive seen. Also last times i was there they had a dutch oven for around $20 i think it was.
Hopefully theres a Fred's in your neck of the woods. :hobbyhors

 

http://cumberlandgeneral.com/

Their website is horrible to navigate and by the looks of it only contains a fraction of what they have. But the last time I saw their printed catalog (which was probably 10 years ago), it was about 200 pages and loaded with cast iron, including wood burning stoves.

It's probably worth getting their printed catalog, unless they reduced their inventory dramatically since the last time I saw it, and the website is all they have left.

I never ordered anything from them, but I was impressed enough by the catalog to remember their name.