For Christmas my boyfriend got me a really gorgeous set of Calphalon cookware. He knows that I love to cook but that I am super frugal and will not buy new cookware if there is even a smidgen of life left in the stuff I have currently (the stuff I have currently being assorted $5 pots and pans from Wal-Mart) so he saw fit to grace me with really nice stuff.
Now I have used my current cookware for the last time and I am breaking out the new stuff for it’s maiden voyage, but what to do with the old stuff? It is sort of scratched up and banged around so I don’t think I should give it to goodwill but I hate the thought of throwing it out. My other thought was to build some awesome sculpture or something out of it, but how the hell do you build something out of pots and pans? Since I can think of nothing reasonable on my own I turn to you, dopers, for advice on what to do with it. The crazier the idea the better!
One of my great grandmothers used to fix pans with a washer and bolt when a hole wore through the pans. That’s a never throw stuff out attitude. They sell used pans in the charity shops so just send them there. Small pans are good for the sand box or you can use them for pet dishes. You can save them for a knock out drag out fight. Make a mobile to hang on the porch. Use them as car decorations for a wedding. Take them to mandatory work birthday party. Present for a preson on there 5 marriage. (Used bride used gifts)
If charities won’t take it, put it on Craigslist (the “free” section of Buy/Sell/Trade) or join a local Freecycle group. Believe me, there are people who will use that old cookware.
Very seldom have I found anything that I could not get rid of. Heck, I have a broken-legged TV stand that I put up yesterday in the late evening; already I have a taker who wants it tomorrow, as well as a waiting list. I’ve also gotten rid of, in record time, a TV/VCR (VCR broken, no remote), boxes of VHS tapes, an ancient-looking school desk that was pitted and graffitied to hell, and many other pieces of complete crap that I couldn’t give away at a garage sale for free.
I’ve also picked up one or two things - one time I scored about fifteen live tomato and basil plants.
I’ve found that people on limited incomes check it frequently. Practical items like cookware go in a heartbeat.
I say Goodwill/Salvation Army/whatever as long as the stuff is still perfectly good (no scratched Teflon, etc.). The standards for clothing donations should be more strict - gently used, no stains - but pans still work just fine even if they’re a little “used”-looking.
I bought the old set for like fifty bucks. I don’t overheat my teflon, and I don’t use metal utensils. They’re still good. Except. Except the teflon is flaking off the rims of two of the pots. I haven’t gotten rid of them yet because sometimes I just want the quick clean-up of teflon. But you know? There’s something very satisfying about cooking on stainless steel.
My ex-fiancée and I are still the best of friends. I went down to her place for Christmas, and her one sauté pan is very light and rather warped. She could probably use my old pans, as they’re better than hers. But I don’t want to skeeve her out with flaky-rimmed saucepans. It might be better to buy her new pans for her birthday or Christmas.
I like the idea of giving them to a shelter. There’s a YWCA women’s shelter near the office. Maybe they can make use of them.
In the past week, I’ve taken nearly 20 boxes of books to the Sallies, including stuff that is 40 years old, textbooks, language books, you name it. They didn’t even bother looking at it, just accepted it gratefully. Anything they may not be able to use will probably end up in the landfill, but you can be sure they will at least try to have it go to someone who needs it.
When I was living in the sticks, I paced off 100 yards and hung a few old pans from a tree with a good size hill behind it. On a nice Sunday we’d sit out there and plink for an hour or two. You could tell from the clang and swing when you nailed one dead center. Lots of spin meant a rim shot. The challenge increased as more of the pan was blown away. We were always stopping by the thrift shop for fresh ones.
I saved my old set and use it for camping.
On more then one occasion it was easier to throw out a pan because it was too hard to clean up in the bush and by the time we got it home the food was one with the pan. (If you pack it in, pack it out)
I agree with donating it if it’s usable. People hit thrift shops after moving when they are setting up a new household and don’t have much cash. Genuinely useful household items for cheap always go quickly. It’s the clothes no one wears anymore and useless knicknacks that aren’t worth donating.
I consider myself an adequate cook; but I’ve boneheadedly become distracted a couple of times – and probably will do again – and wound up with tenacious black crust bound solidly to a pan. I’ve found that simmering soapy water (often for a rather long time) works very well to clean it off.
All my pots and pans are used, either bought from a former roommate for dirt cheap when he was leaving the country, or else from a thrift store. In fact, most of the stuff in my house was acquired through somebody else or through that store. If it’s still usable, do donate it. Plenty of people will be happy to take it. I would!
The simplest is to put them up on Craigslist for free. Someone will come to pick them up, so you don’t even have to take them anywhere. A digital picture would help, but if they’re free they’ll probably get taken anyway.
