A lot of my growing up years, my mom would subject Nazi-like enforcements on the food we ate (and how we cooked it). Anything with the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" was banned from the kitchen cupboards. We also were givens strict instructions on never cooking food in the microwave with plastic.
Mom even threw away all the Teflon pans one day (to read possible health risks associated with Teflon, read these articles here, here and here).
I used to laugh at her and call her crazy. I noticed though, when I started caring for my own family, I took her advice a little more seriously. I mean, people are getting cancer from somewhere right?
Last year I chucked all of my Teflon coated pans. My thinking is, better safe than sorry.
In their place, I bought a couple of cast iron beauties. I was skeptical at first. Cast iron was strange to me. The whole you-can't-soak-this-pan-in-soap-and-water bit made me nervous. But my husband, the great cook that he is, talked me into them.
Cast iron is amazing. It browns beautifully. Eggs slide of easily. Best yet, no Teflon!
Lodge makes a great inexpensive skillet, you can get it at Williams-Sonoma for $27 for a 12 inch. Sure it's no Le Creuset pretty, but it does the job just fine.
(Best Buy: I picked up a pair of Lodge skillets from Costco for around $20 something.)
