The Dangers Of Toxic Pans

When my husband and I got married, the first thing on our registry was a good set of nonstick pans. (Thank you, Aunt Emma!) Or at least I thought they were good… until I found out that the chemical coating could contain forever chemicals – which, true to their name, stay in your body FOREVER. I don’t want my kids getting tattoos (they’re 9 and 10; if they got tattoos now, that would kinda be on me), so I definitely don’t want chemicals in their bodies permanently!

What the heck is “PFAS” anyway? It’s short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which is a family of 9,000 chemicals used in the manufacturing process of many different products, including cookware. It’s what gives traditional nonstick pans their slip. And they’re also a toxin, but for some reason that I don’t understand, cookware companies can SAY they’re toxin-free… but still contain PFAS. 

GreenPan famously is explicitly PFAS-free, making it a super safe option for my kids. No more forever chemicals for them!

My Healthy New Obsession

Enter GreenPan, the true pioneers of healthy nonstick cookware. I’m in love with this brand, because from the very beginning, they understood the dangers of PFAS and other forever chemicals, and developed a pan whose nonstick-iness comes from ceramic, not a chemical coating. They literally invented it in 2007! I just really appreciate when a company behaves ethically and in the best interest of our planet and the kids who are inheriting it, which GreenPan does and always has done. 

I chose the gorgeous Twilight 10-piece set from their Reserve line, and it has held up SO incredibly well to daily cooking. From Sunday pancakes that lift perfectly off the pan surface, to beautifully reduced bechamel, my new pans are helping me make meals for my kids that they love, and that I can feel good about feeding them. 

A Quick How-To

Ceramic pans do need a little extra TLC to keep them slippery! GreenPan includes a handy care guide in every package, but here’s the rundown in case you’d rather look at your computer:

• Use low to medium heat. 
• Don’t use steel wool or abrasive cleaners to scrub. 
• Use silicone or wood utensils. (You can technically use metal, but why mess with perfection?)
• Don’t use high heat. We had to say this twice! Ceramic conducts heat a lot better than what you’re used to, so you don’t need a scorching temp to get things really cooking. 

Now that you know how to take care of them, why not adopt a GreenPan set of your own? 

Will I Stick With GreenPan? 

Even if these pans didn’t have the slipperiest, slide-iest, nonstick-iest surface ever – which they do! – I would obviously make the healthy choice for my kids. My husband and I are probably already ruined from a lifetime of drinking out of plastic water bottles that got left in a hot car for too long. But our kids are still young! There’s still time to help them stay relatively untouched by the environmental horrors of this world. At the very least, I can shield them from toxic pans. 

I’m also completely in love with my Reserve set. They look classy as heck in my kitchen (I feel like an Instagram influencer) and I absolutely love cooking with them. So yeah, I’m sticking with GreenPan for life. And if you use code PRIMARY10 at checkout, you can get 10% off your order of your brand new PFAS- and toxin-free pans!