Cast iron dishes

[Timide]

I wanted to get a couple of good solid cast-iron dishes to improve my cooking experience. I'm a bit taken aback by the price. Could smb explain to me why Argos one costs 25£ and Le Creuset 300 quid? I know the difference between Gucci and Primark but is there more to it? it is just a dish FFS
Shall I look at second-hand ones? They seem to have slight burnt marks. Is it a problem? Please enlighten me

Le Creuset has a lifetime guarantee. They may give their pots more layers of enamel, I don't know. I have found supermarket sold enamelled cast iron performs in exactly the same way as my actual Le Creuset casserole. I have a cast iron enamelled roaster from Aldi which is awesome and was about £30.

Thank you @WeAreTheHeroes
So I reckon any would do!

Yeah I have Sainsburys one which I've had for years, performs exactly as it should.

I bought a Habitat one from Sainsburys which I'd recommend

I got one from Tesco in 2013 and it is still going well. I love my pressure cooker but nothing does a roast beef like a cast iron pot.

I'm in ROI but I see Lidl are doing them this week.

Make sure you heat the pot up slowly, especially on induction
<voice of bitter experience>

If you have Tesco vouchers you can use them (double the value) to get Denby cast iron. I have a couple of theirs and think that they're just as good as my Le Creuset one.

@peerie oh what happened?

The base fractured and a chunck of enamel fell out

purely down to me being a novice with induction

We have an IKEA one and a Sainsburys one and both are fine. Just bought a shallow one from ProCook - they had a good offer on and lots of different colours.

I've bought plenty of second hand Creuset. Also bought this recently. It's exactly the same as my Creuset equivalent.

@ChatSamosa oh what do I need to pay attention at when buy a second hand one?

Does it have to be the enamelled type? I have some like that from Aldi and Lidl, both are fine but I've some petromax ones, a small skillet and a Dutch oven and I love using them, I'll be investing in a larger skillet some, a bonus for me is that I can use them on a campfire as well as at home.

Bé careful putting them down out of a hot oven. XH put a le Creuset oval dish down on a table and it split in 2 across the middle.

I have a mix of Le Creuset pans and dishes. Most are about 30 years old. I also have some Aldi bits (including the big shallow lidded one). I had to replace the knob on the latter after it cracked (too many times in a hot oven), but a replacement Le Creuset metal knob fitted perfectly.

I also had a Denby mini frying pan in a beige colour, but the enamel on that chipped after a couple of years and the colour faded.

If you see the style/colour of a Le Creuset on eBay and you can see there are good interior/exterior photos then go for it.

Some of the larger pans are heavy beasts, so I can see why older cooks with arthritic hands might choose to get rid of them.