— Diane Kirschner

Yes, they can, but depending on the pan. So most quality pans can last a lifetime. Uh, but that also means that they're more expensive. Now. You can get like cheaper made pans and typically the, you know, the first thing to either go out on them is gonna be the non-stick coating on it. If it is a non-stick, if it's a stainless steel pan, um, it should last a very long time. If it's cast iron, it should last for your grandkids. Um, you just have to be able to treat them well. And I think that's probably the most important lesson of the entire thing is that all the pans can last well if you treat them properly. Um, the only stickler in that is that pretty much every um, non-stick pan is going to have a shelf life on it. Um, now there are new technologies with like the hex clad pans and um, there are HX clad and oh, a couple other brands are doing a version where it's basically the stainless steel is raised in a hexagonal pattern and then the non-stick is between those hexagons basically. So when you scrape it, even with a metal spatula, it's not scraping the non-stick, it's extra scraping the stainless steel. Now that's a clever workaround, but um, time will tell to see how those last up. Um, a lot of them will be like, oh, can you know, you can just like cook anything on that and it won't stick to it. And that's actually not the truth. It still needs a little bit of something to be able to make sure that things aren't going to stick to it. And you know, you might be whole food plant-based, but I think the biggest, you know, uh, test for that is always an egg. Can you throw an egg into a a pan with nothing else and is it going to stick? It typically always is going to. Um, and so yeah, but pans, uh, can age out. But usually it's going to be a non-stick pan. If you're buying stainless steel, if you're buying um, cast iron, those are gonna be the ones that are gonna last the longest. Aluminum will tend to have a shelf life to it as well too. So just think about the material that you're buying it in that should be able to help you out.