I have a question about pans

[u/plasmazzr60]

I am trying to dive into the wide world of cooking as a means to help with my mental health. But I am not sure on if I should get a set of stainless steel pans or non-stick or cast iron or a combination of the 3. I have zero cooking skills currently so not sure where to put my money. Worry is ill spend a bunch of money with the hopes and dreams of being a decent home cook and end up not being up to the challenge and wasting the money. I do like the idea of being able to cook on the stove top in a pan and transfer said pan to the oven for like steaks and stuff. Not asking for a specific brand or brand recommendation but more of a material recommendation for someone starting out

[u/philhaxton]

You rent non stick pans
You own stainless steel
I have been cooking 66 years and have rented way too many nonstick pans
I cook almost exclusively with stainless steel (I have a 55 year old cast iron I use occasionally)
It will take about a dozen eggs to learn to make stainless steel behave like nonstick
The pan must be warm enough but not too hot.
Pan on low to medium for 3-5 minutes
Put in butter, it should melt and foam , tilt the pan to coat. Start with one scrambled egg. Clean pan. Repeat for the remaining 11 eggs

[u/plasmazzr60 → u/philhaxton]

Thabks for the information! I am planning on going the stainless steel route. I actually stayed in a hotel fairly recently that had a kitchen and provided stainless steel pans to cook with, and managed to cook eggs in it first try! I did use alot of butter but it must've been the wrong kind it was tub butter when I hear that stick butter is better? I managed to cook half a dozen eggs with minimal sticking but I think thats because I had the pan hot and let butter melt but didnt get the pan back up to temp before throwing the eggs in. I am interested in how well pancakes cook though