Stainless Cookware: Cooking/Cleaning ?

Congrats - great goal to replace toxic products. Unfortunately the transition can be a little tricky. I must admit, I kept one nice nonstick frypan and saucepan (NOT teflon) for really sticky stuff. But here are my suggestions:

Always heat your pans first. Hot pan, cold oil/butter/fat; food won't stick. Or at least not as much.

For cleanup I use the bamboo or hemp scrubbies - renewable! - and a little baking soda/water paste. Still need to soak some things: roasting pans, oatmeal pot, and yes those dang scrambled eggs; but not as long. Good luck!

We did the same thing last year. If you wait until it's hot enough, meat and eggs shouldn't stick much. It's a trick to figure out how long to wait. I can make fried eggs and omelets without sticking, but I still have some residue from scrambled eggs. For scrambled eggs, it helps if right after I've cooked the eggs, I remove them from the burner. We have an electric stove, so the eggs keep cooking onto the pan if you don't remove them right away. I've had very little trouble with meat if I wait until the pat is hot enough. The other thing I use for meat is a cast iron pan, and that's not been hard to clean afterwards.

I keep SOS or Brillo pads under my sink in case I mess up (they work wonders on stainless steel). Keep it up! Health wise, I think it's probably worth the trouble.

We LOVE our well seasoned cast iron pan for eggs.

We did the same thing. If I don't use my stainless steel, I have several well seasoned cast iron skillets that I use for eggs, pancakes, and other items that tend to stick. It may take some time for you to get a good season but once you do, you won't have any problems. I put a bit of water in the stainless steel when the pan is still warm and let it sit for a bit. Then is usually comes out without any problem.

I LOVE eggs! Here is my recipe for no stick.
Tell your kids you are making green eggs & ham.

Empty a small can of spinach (w/can water) into a large frypan.
Turn heat on high & add chopped-- onion, rutabega, & garlic.
Simmer on medium once it heats up. Add more plain water as needed.
Open a can of corn & add the juice only.
When the veggies are cooked, add chopped mushrooms, some more of the corn, chopped carrots, celery, & red pepper (fire-roasted in jar).
Add more water & your spices to taste-oregano, parsley, basil, cayenne, curry (tumeric) & poultry seasoning. You can add ham cubes here, but I like it without meat. Let it heat up.
Add 1T olive oil to a seperate bowl & add 6 eggs. Beat the eggs with a fork.
Push your veggies in the fry pan to the sides & dump the egg mixture in the water in the middle. Turn the burner on high & gently stir the eggs as they cook. If you add water in small amounts as needed, it should evaporate away by the time the eggs are done.
Turn down to medium, then low as you stir the cooking eggs. When they "set", stir the veggies into the eggs from the side.
If you do this right, you will have no-stick & the most delicious eggs you have ever tasted.

I use plain water to cook my meat also. It is much better for you than frying. Just heat the water in the pan & add your meat & onion to brown from the gentle heat. I never have trouble with sticking.

I have had my Stainless Steel Cookware for about 6yrs and LOVE it. I would recommend Bar Keepers Friend for the cleaning. For the cooking of the eggs I heat the pan up high and use a Pam type spray (they have Olive Oil - Sunflower Oil - etc...) just before I put on the eggs I turn it down to medium and it works for me I just stay right ontop of the pan. Another thing I did was get a non-stick Crepe' pan so that I could do crepes easier but I also use it for eggs. I have had that for 5years and I was it by hand in warm water only and it has lasted for so long, but then again I use the Pam type spray.

To clean the stainless steel pans is sooo easy! All you need to do is when finished cooking add some dish soap to the pan and some water put back on the burner turn on med - high to get it boiling take a spatula or wooden spoon to botttom of pan to scrap anything sticking to bottom and then throw out and tadaa it wipes out clean and wash normally. I only cook w/ stainless steel and love it! So, easy to clean and can cook anything in them also the trick is to make sure they are well oiled and hot before cooking. Warm the pan on the burner first before adding oil is the trick you want the pan to be hot before adding anything so that everything cooks evenly.