My parents only owned Cast Iron until I was in my teens then they got some non-stick. They were gone within a few months. Personally my wife had a good set of steal pans which we used forever but always had issues with sticking. About 20 years ago I went to an estate sale and there was this old nasty rusted cast iron 12" skillet. The lady only knew her dad had it his whole life. He just hadn't used it for a very long time and it sat in his garage. I bought it for 50 cents, best buy ever. Cleaned it up, seasoned it and started using it. It has been great. Only issue I had was getting it too hot once which forced a heavy cleaning and seasoning it again. When I cook any type of ground meat I always add bacon grease to the pan first. This helps a lot. I also use strained clean bacon grease when I do any steaks as I just like how they come out. I also like liver and onions, in cast iron man oh man. yum. No I'm wanting that even for breakfast.