Are cast iron Le Creuset casserole dishes worth the money?

sjprmc01

Worth it or not?

I always wanted the teal set of pans/casserole dishes but too pricy for me!

I know someone who has had 2 of the casserole dishes break on her (she did get them replaced by the manufacturer, but even still!)

At the moment I'm using a tefal set which cost £40 and are still going strong at at least 8yrs old

I still do admire the Le creuset though, I'm not sure why! It's really heavy too! (exercise the bingo wings?)

gairlochgal

I've got deep and shallow cast iron casseroles and a couple of the ceramic pieces and I love them and use them all the time. They are very tolerant of my DDs learning to cook. I also have the small Dutch oven (marmitout?) which I use occasionally when in mood for bread making.

I have never tried the cast iron saucepans - always think they look annoyingly heavy.

Yes - I think worth it if you buy the specific pieces that suit your style of cooking.

Stephen_Leak

Sorry, no. They weigh a ton. They cost a fortune. They aren't indestructable: they can crack if you put them directly into cold water. They don't like being heated up with little or nothing in them. The wooden handles can char if left over other rings, and don't like being soaked.

They do look great though. If anyone ever bought me one of their classic "Volcane" orange casseroles, I wouldn't complain and I would do them a nice duck and Toulouse sausage cassoulet in it.

prowla

We had one of the cast iron Le Creuset pas and after years of not using it I gavce it away on freegle.
I've looked at some of their other offerings and to me they just seem expensive.

valk_scot

I collected quite a lot of it over the years. I'd moved into a house with an old Rayburn and my normal pots weren't suitable for cooking on it so I bought quite a lot of pieces. I had a full set of pots plus several spares, kettle, three casserole dishes, big roaster dish, couple of frying pans, griddle and some of the earthenware dishes. The casserole dishes were a flatwarming gift from my FIL, the rest came from jumble sales, car boots and Ebay. I certainly wouldn't have paid new prices for it, no!

When the Rayburn went to the big scrapyard in the sky though I gave away most of my Le Creuset to a friend who'd inherited a range cooker with her new flat, just like me. I found it incredibly heavy to handle, difficult to keep really clean and it took ages to heat up too. I kept the casserole dishes but tbh I never use them, I should give them away too. I think it's overrated and certainly over priced. If you need a heavy based pot there are a lot of very similar designs out there at 1/3rd the price, otherwise give me stainless steel or non-stick any day,

Puddleglum

We have a Rayburn too and the Le Cruset pans work really well where lighter ones do not. Our collection is 20 years old now and still going strong. If anything is too heavy to hold one handed when plating up I go all wimpy and get someone to help :beer:

nlj1520

I was given a set of the saucepans 20 odd years ago and have 1 large and 1 small casserole too. All have been used and abused for that time and although they look battered I love them. Too heavy for anyone with joint pains in arms or hands I would think, but you can get cast steel similar ranges which are lighter. I am a huge fan.

thriftwizard

I love my Le Creuset & Cousances casseroles & frying pans & wouldn't swap them for anything, but stick to good stainless steel saucepans (never non-stick!) for everyday cooking - much lighter, just as tough. If you do go for them, make sure you have a couple of lighter pans on hand too, and also make sure you know how to care for them properly too - dishwashers are a no-no, and the ones without enamel insides are better cleaned without any detergent at all.

Pink.

Hi sjprmc01,

I've added your thread to our existing one on the same topic to keep the replies together.

Pink

Rainy-Days

I do own a big set of casserole and pans from Le Creuset, but I will say they are heavy to handle. A few years back now I got a frozen shoulder (long story not going into here) and I could no longer lift them so I bought a real cheapo set of stainless steel pans from Argos for £19.99.

Those pans from Argos are in and out of the dishwasher, they are in use everyday and have never let me down. Considering that set of five pans was so flipping cheap I was half expecting them to not last too long, but they have been in use for over ten years and still going good.

I still use my Le Creuset frying pan because itdoes the bacon beautifully, but as an everyday thing, I don't use them. I also have to wash the wooden handled pans by hand as well, not a big deal for me but ideally they shouldn't go in a dishwasher.