Bought a $3 mystery bag of kitchen stuff at a Goodwill in Fresno and found a cast iron pan that I almost threw away

Wesley Gonzalez · 2026-09-24T20:50:04.783899+00:00

So about two months back I stopped at the Goodwill on Blackstone in Fresno because I had an hour to kill between jobs. They had these brown paper bags stapled shut for 3 bucks each, all the random kitchen junk nobody wanted. I grabbed one mostly for the fun of it, figured worst case I get some butter knives and a mug. Got home and dumped it out and there was this nasty black skillet at the bottom, like fully crusted, looked like somebody cooked bacon on it in 1987 and never cleaned it. I almost tossed it in the trash pile but my neighbor Ray saw it and said thats old iron, dont be dumb. Spent a Saturday scrubbing it with steel wool and it turned out to be a Wagner ware pan from the 50s, no cracks, sits dead flat on my stove. I seasoned it up and now I make eggs in it every single morning, better than any pan I ever bought new for 60 bucks. The lesson for me is dont buy the clean shiny stuff in the bins, the ugly junk is where the good stuff hides. What random bag or bin gamble has actually paid off for you guys?

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Bought a $3 mystery bag of kitchen stuff at a Goodwill in Fresno and found a cast iron pan that I almost threw away | Bargain Bin Finds - Guest Forum