Please help.

I need suggestions of skillet and wok that are BIRD SAFE. I cannot afford to spend a lot. Looking for under 200. I know there are countless threads on this already but if anyone has a link and personal experience , I'd find that easier than weeding through hundreds of comments. Thanks.

Easy. No non-stick coatings of any sort. none. nada. Plain steel, aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron. But plain, no coatings.

Stainless steel is what we use in my house. You can use coconut oil to create your own safe nonstick coat.


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I use GreenPan, but you can't use any metal utensils, not even a spoon (ask me how I know). And I only use them when I absolutely need non-stick - like for eggs.
Not expensive, about $20 on Amazon.

As a very good friend of mine on the Parrot Forums recently stated as part of a Post on this subject: Visit the Second Hand Stores looking for older (pre non-stick) and you will find excellent (originally, very expensive) cookware. Ask your Grandmother what she used and target those items!

Try cooking at a much lower settings (below medium), you will be shocked at how little natural oils /butter, if any is needed. Time is lengthen by very tiny amounts commonly a minute or two. And, I find the flavors are much better.

SailBoat said:

As a very good friend of mine on the Parrot Forums recently stated as part of a Post on this subject: Visit the Second Hand Stores looking for older (pre non-stick) and you will find excellent (originally, very expensive) cookware. Ask your Grandmother what she used and target those items!

Try cooking at a much lower settings (below medium), you will be shocked at how little natural oils /butter, if any is needed. Time is lengthen by very tiny amounts commonly a minute or two. And, I find the flavors are much better.

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Sailboat is right on, right on, right on! You are probably too young to get the joke...one more trick to cooking with nonstick pans is to test the food before you try to flip it, and if it seems stuck, let it cook a bit longer. Most foods seem to release from the pan naturally when they have formed that tasty crusty layer - it seems to lever them up off the surface. It took me a long time to learn to turn down the heat once the pan was hot and to be patient and flip food when it's ready, not when I'm ready. Come to think of it, that's good advice for life in general.

I recently bought a stainless steel wock for $50 at Winners (suggested retail price was $80), so very reasonable.

'wok' not wock.

TJ Maxx and Ross are two places to buy expensive cookware very cheaply. I got a 16 piece set of Phillipe Richard Bird-Safe ceramic non-stick pots and pans at Ross, the set cost $219 at Macy's and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and it cost me $60 at Ross. And I previously got a set of stainless pots and pans at TJ Maxx for $50.

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Ross and Maxx are great, as is Tuesday Morning. I've bought some good stainless pans there. Also eBay is great for both new and used sets of pans. I mean, stainless isn't going to wear out, putt it through the dishwasher, scour it with Bon Ami, it's as good as new! I found a set of excellent, thick bottom waterless stainless for a friend at an estate sale. My husband has been spoiling me with All-Clad pans that he gets at a discount from Metro Kitchen. Oh...and don't overlook plain steel pans from restaurant supply places. They require oil, cook quickly, become nonstick like cast iron with proper care. It's a new fad, and I don't have any, but I've been reading about them on cooking sites. They are quite inexpensive.

Stainless is easy to care for, but takes some getting used to. It heats slowly and unevenly. You need to put the pan on medium heat for a while then add oil and let that heat up, then add food. If you turn the heat down or up, it can take the pan a while to react. So the best stainless has thick bases, with layers of aluminum and/or copper inside to heat more evenly. It takes a little time to learn what works best with a particular pan, and usually it's lower heat then you think. The thin steel pans are more like copper. They heat very evenly and respond more quickly to changes in temperature, so they are good for things that you will be paying close attention to. Heavy cast iron is the opposite - it heats slowly but evenly and holds heat for a long time, so once you get a cast iron pan at the right temperature it cooks very evenly. It's because the pan has more mass and doesn't cool down when you put the food in it. Cast iron is great for cornbread, any kind of frying.