I've been cooking for a long time and over the decades I've noticed non-stick has become better "value engineered" over time such that no matter how much you pa

I've been cooking for a long time and over the decades I've noticed non-stick has become better "value engineered" over time such that no matter how much you pay or how much you baby the pan, you'll be buying a new one every couple months. When I was a kid my mom's non-stick lasted for years, until the handle breaks off or something, but they've done a lot of coating engineering work to increase repeat sales for non-stick. So maybe a decade ago I switched to cast iron in a rage at my latest pan only lasting a couple months. I was shocked at the cost, I was trying to buy upscale to get non-stick pans that don't suck, and instead of paying $100+ for a six month lifetime non-stick I was paying like $15 for a lifetime grade CI pan. I do understand how non-stick pan mfgrs stay in business, because they're guaranteed about two sales per year due to amazingly low product durability. I have no idea how Lodge and the others stay in the CI business because the pans last forever. Its a mysterious business model. One more point to add is I have CI grates on my charcoal BBQ and a similar seasoning mindset applies to CI grill as to frying pans. Dump the coals, scrape/scrub the grates, apply some oil/crisco while it'll still smoke a little but not too much, you're good. Another non-stick alternative I cook with a lot is stainless steel. If you're generous with the oil and keep the temps very high but not too high and start with a surgically clean pan, you can fry in stainless. "Barkeepers friend" is the best thing I can find for cleaning stainless. Stainless is also basically eternal. Unlike CI, if you're used to spending $50 at Target for a non-stick pot or pan, a CI equivalent will be like $15 but a large stainless pot could be maybe $100 to $150 for all-clad? I'm in the "all-clad or nothing" tribe of stainless users, there are cheaper alternatives. I like a steak in a nice near red hot stainless pan. You'll need the "barkeepers friend" cleaning powder after that. I could imagine that powder would strip a CI pan pretty well, given how well it strips baked on stuff off stainless pans.