What Are Some General "Buy It For Life" (Durable) Items You Recommend?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2642565
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2642502
So the idea of "buy it for life" is to buy items that are durable and last for a long time, things you could buy once and have your whole life, which can save money and be good for the environment
What are some of the top items you recommend for this?
I tried to buy a BifL non-stick pan and found that it doesn't exist. Everything marketed as non-stick has some coating that will wear off and become useless. "But what about {brand that says it's not PTFE, PFOA, or PFAS}?" Yep them too. Look up sol-gel non-stick coating if you have ceramic non-stick. If you don't want to have to buy pans over and over again, you have to go stainless, cast iron or carbon steel. Cast iron enamelware is pretty good too, but isn't really non-stick. I'm in the process of finding stainless/cast-iron replacements for all my non-stick pans.
Carbon steel pans. You season and treat them like cast iron, but they develop a beautiful, smooth, non stick surface. I just made two over easy eggs in mine. They’re basically all I use anymore - no PFOx, no muss.
I thought I bought two from a French company that started with an ‘M’ but I can’t figure out which brand 😂
Bonus because any metal ions that do leach into the food are Iron which your body needs anyway.
Keep in mind nickel and chromium will leach from stainless steel. I'm not saying don't buy SS, just don't buy cheap cookware and consider an alternative if cooking something acidic, especially for extended periods of time.
Sounds like you're on the right path, and I know you didn't ask, but just wanted to chime in. I love cooking, and have both stainless and cast iron skillets. The circlejerk for cast iron is strong, but I have to say, it's genuinely the best available non-stick pan once it's seasoned properly. I can make a perfect omelette, sear scallops, steaks, sautee vegetables, & use it as a pan for oven roasting chickens and roasts. I use it for bread baking as well. They're cheap (compared to clad cookware) and I'm not sure I could damage my pan even if I wanted to. They're extremely sturdy, and hold heat very well. I clean mine with cold water and a stiff bristle brush, dry, lightly oil (when it looks like it needs it) & it's ready to go.
Down side to cast iron pans is that they need some care in the initial seasoning stages, and it stinks up the house when you season them (do it outside on the bbq if you have one!). It's a bit messy to keep them oiled. They're heavy and not ergonomic. Can't use them to simmer acidic sauces because that actually will soften and strip the seasoning, so I use my stainless for that. Get one, season it correctly, and you'll never look back.
Yeah I just kinda accept that even a really good a non stick is gonna eat it after a while but I've found with proper care they'll last a long time. That means no metal cooking tools and I even avoid really hard plastics. Definitely never use the dish washer and will opt for a long soak type of clean where I don't have to do any abrasive scrubbing. And then also just not cranking the heat ultra high. Someone else in this thread mentioned the thermal expansion thing and I really think that's true.
We use Fika pans at home and I believe they are ceramic. Will that wear off too? We've been using them for almost a year now and they have been great. It's a low bar though because prior to that we've always used cheap non-stick pans. lol
With ceramic coatings, it's not so much that they wear off, it's that repeated thermal expansion can cause extremely small fractures in the ceramic. These fractures create a surface that food or oil in the process of polymerization will stick to. Making sure you don't crank the heat too high is one way to keep your ceramic coating intact for longer.
They'll last you 5 - 8 years with care. Eventually they'll start sticking.
someone got me a pan called blue diamond or something from Walmart its an "as seen on TV" item but it truly necee sticks and id quite durable
I'd go a step further and talk about all devices that are built well, and don't fail early due to bad design, intentional design, etc. That work as intended for the life of the product, as much as possible.
GoRuck backpacks - I have full confidence my backpack will outlive me
Pelican cases - I know they will outlive me, especially the 1510LOC case
Swiss Army Knife - Victorniox, they last forever, the only reason I keep buying them is I lose them.
Quality Laptop (should last a decade!) - I had my macbook pro for 9 years, and now im running a framework.
Gallon of PCP - It will last the REST of your life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnEh0PpUZHI
When I saw gallon of PCP, I hoped it was what I thought, and I was pleasantly surprised.
That gallon of PCP lasted at least the rest of Candace's life
How is your experience with the framework? I've been eyeing it as my next upgrade but it is a bit pricy so I'm saving up for it at the moment.
I've had a really good experience with framework laptops. They work well. They're well built.
I had some issues with my first laptop, and after some necessary debugging back and forth, they sent me a new laptop.
Overall good company I look forward to good things. I'd like them to completely unlock the bootloader and allow the core boot team to work on it. But other than that no complaints
A scythe. It will take you a lifetime to wear through that blade. Frequent sharpening necessary, but that gives you a chance to catch your breath.
Easy there Grim. Not all of us have that much reaping to do, of any variety, unless it's enough to require a combine harvester or maybe a sniper rifle if you're a soldier.
I've been reading posts like this and this is the first time I've seen scythe. Aside from collecting people's souls, are there any practical uses for them in an urban setting?
Only if you have a yard that needs mowing. Then they're just it.
Well, not small objects per se, but wood furniture, real wood, not laminate shit. I have some real wood furniture for more than 25 years, table, chairs, sideboard/dresser, etc. Some are even antique bought for $25 25 years ago.
Bonus points if you budget a little extra and make friends with a local upholster. They can work magic in turning that solid, but ugly, chair from something your grandma would have to something you might find in a design magazine.
Hard to beat real wood - just as long as you take care of it.
Heh.
Saddleback leather wallets and Merkur Futur double edged safety razor.
I bought my wallet twenty years ago and it still looks great. And for the razor I bought it in 2003 and I’ve spent about $30 in razors since then. The thing is solid titanium so it’s never gonna break.
Vitamix pro 750 blender. I use it every day, starting with making fruit juice for breakfast. Forget the old juice extractor.. just pulverize fruits for 60 seconds in this and the result is smooth and delicious.
Just bought a Vitamix after my ninja food processor bowl essentially fell apart. The 900 Canadian dollars hurt but I know with a 10 year warranty I feel confident in it lasting.
Big change in my mindset from 10 years ago. Give me the quality shit every time now.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=Rm5IzzGPzQA
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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-My carbon fiber road bike is nearly 16 years old and still functions flawlessly and will for my lifetime and likely my kids' lifetimes. -Cast iron pan -Solid multi-tool -Red Wing Chukka boots, they may need to be re-soled after many years but the leather lasts forever -Hand crank coffee grinder -Alpine skis -Garden shovel
I'm sure theres more but those are the things that come to mind immediately
someone else mentioned carbon fiber bikes, I thought I've read they can break - obviously in your case it held up a while, I think steel is most durable though
another commenter ITT (edit: in other thread) raised concern with carbon as well. I think it's mostly like when it gets damaged, it can't be repaired as much, whereas with steel it can just be bent back or rewelded?
heard good things about red wing I think for boots, might get a pair myself eventually
Carbon fiber is extremely durable and flexible, and provides a much more comfortable ride than steel. It will crack if you put it under extreme duress, but steel welds can do the same thing too. As long as you aren’t wrecking on the bike regularly carbon can last a lifetime. There are ways to repair it too but it can be very expensive. Red Wings are hands down the best. I’ve had a pair for 20 years and only had them re-soled once. They are so damn comfortable and soft after all this time.
Redwing is good, but not really that much better than any other real leather work boot. And outdoor, wet, muddy oily, work can and does wear out the leather. I usually get two soles per upper on boots. Some guys i work with always wear out their leather before soles, but they never clean or condition the leather.
I'm assuming you mean the Weekenders. Those are great boots, I own a pair myself. I really like that they have more of a wedge sole than an actual heel. For some reason I just don't like how I look in heeled boots.
Wahl hair trimmer. Don't get the battery model. Don't get the cheapo version from Walmart. Get a mid or higher trim model and you will have it for decades. They are made in the US which is an extra bonus and maybe once every 5 or 10 years you can replace the blade.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !buyitforlife@lemmy.world
hey community linker bot, not sure if a human will get this but this may be an upstream problem with the lemmy code itself, as when I typed "!" + the community, it autocompleted mostly to the link that I used (or for any humans reading)