What are the benifits of cooking with CAST IRON? I am thinking of getting some cast iron for use when the power goes out and I am using a propane stove or multi fuel stove for cooking.

Is cast iron "better" than standard pots and pans in such a use?

I hear cast iron is very durable and will not burn through on hot stoves like standard pots and pans may.

Any input is appreciated.

Oklahoma

Heavy cast iron pans, have the advantage of spreading the heat evenly, so you won't get hot spots and thus preventing things from burning. This also allows you to use heavy cast iron pans as ovens.

Not sure what the advantage is of cast iron, during a power outage. Unless you really want to bake something...

What he said, plus it can be pretty much non-stick.

Before cast iron really starts to work properly you have to get it well seasoned, something I have never had much luck at. My mom had a cast iron skillet that was jet black, and smooth as a babies butt on the inside, cooked great, nothing would stick to it. Only took her a lifetime of use to get it that way...

Having cooked with cast iron most of my life, both at home at at camp, here's a few of the reasons why I prefer it, especially in a more primitive environment. Please keep in mind this is for regular cast iron, not the enamale or porcelain clad stuff:

1) Perpetual stick resistance - Properly seasoned cast iron maintains a carbonized coating that resists having foods stick to it. It isn't foolproof, but with a minimal effort it can be maintained indefinitely.

2) Ease of cleanup - No matter how bad my cast iron gets fouled in the cooking process, even if I burn something in it, I need scant more than hot water and a fire to clean it to optimal condition again. Because of how it is seasoned and used, it is the only cookware I know of that can be "fire cleaned", that is, cleaned out by nothing more than direct heat. It is a worst case scenario when a casual soaking will not loosen truly baked on messes and I have to put the pot on the fire and let it burn the gunk to ash, usually requiring that I also re-season the pot thoroughly. However, usually the case is I just need to scrub the pot briefly with hot water (never soap), heat it up to a sterilizing temp (350-450 degrees for about 10 minutes), and occasionally "smoke" a layer of cooking oil, shortening or lard on the surface, which is simply applying a thin layer while it is hot enough to scorch the oil and let it go till the smoke quits, then let it cool off the flame on its own.

3) Versatility - because of the thickness of the pot and that cast iron doesn't conduct heat as readily as other metals, you have pretty good temp control for cooking just about anything, and I have. The trick is to balance the heat application to the type of cooking you do. For frying, boiling, simmering and sauteing, bottom heat is all that's required, so a stove, either gas or electric works fine, and a skillet is the dominant utensil. For baking and roasting, more heat needs to be applied from above, so if using wood or charcoal at camp instead of the range oven in the kitchen you need a pot with a lid that will retain embers or coals so the heat can convect down into the food as well as up from the bottom. With this option, I've baked some of the best biscuits, rolls, breads, cakes, quiches, casseroles, and roasted chickens, turkeys, hams, rib roasts, pot roasts, and ribs that my family and friends say they've ever feasted upon. For more delicate dishes like quiche or souffle, I simply use a trivet in the bottom of the pot and place the pan containing the delicacy inside to bake just like using a range oven at home. Even a water bath for custards is not that difficult.

There's other reasons too for using cast iron cookware, but I think you get the idea. The big drawback of course is that cast iron is not the lightweight, backpacking type cooking utensil. You will never find any cast iron in my backpacks, which is why I like mules. If you are gonna pack it in yourself, then I would stick with those gadget type cookware ensembles like jetboil and bakepacker that allow some variation to just being able to boil water, yet don't add twenty pounds to your pack.

During a power outage at home, I can and do use my cast iron for cooking anything I need or want. I can use other pans for frying and boiling things, but if I want to bake or roast and there's no electricity, all I need is a fire and I have a meal.

Let me put it this way, if I can make a meal of stuffed cornish game hens, twice baked potatoes, glazed carrots, sourdough rolls, and bumbleberry cobbler up at elk camp, in November, during a heavy driving snow, then it should suit me well back home when the lights go out.

My oldest pot is going on 25 years now. I've a cast iron muffin pan that is about 80 years old as well that I still use. I've seen pots in use that are pushing 200 years old now (a "spider" skillet used for hearth cooking, home made even).

Without damageing the pot, you can usually cook with cast iron over charcoal, wood coals, coal, gas, electric, just about whatever you want.

There's only two downsides to cast iron.

1) It's HEAVY. Not a problem in the kitchen but even car camping I don't use one anymore.
2) If you don't take care of it, it will rust. You can also get bacteria growing inside the pours of the metal if you don't maintain it's seasoning.

while all the above are correct i would not use cast iron
for survival cooking.you want to use every BTU you can squeeze
out of a propane tank. just the fuel you would burn to heat
up a Dutch oven to the point where it would start to cook
something could be used to cook several meals in stainless
steel..i have and use cast iron pots but they are just used
in car camping where i can carry a lot of weight and have
a big pile of firewood.. remember that cast iron was used
in the "good old days" because people cooked on big heavy
cast iron stoves..very slowly..that slaveing over a hot
stove to cook a meal is 1850's not 1950's..and---i'm really
on a roll here..they used cast iron because it was the best
avalable at the time..tin was for poor people--

There are several booklets on dutch oven cooking, all worthwhile to acquire. They are called dutch ovens because of the german market in America among the Pensylvania Dutch, and were first cast for that market in England. The coal catching lip and three legs are a design improvement by our own Paul Revere. Sizes range from a small 8" up to 16' ( 16" cook differently and are truly the realm of professionals anyway.) The most usefull size being a 14" that can cook full meals or side dishes with reduced quantities. You will need a 'Gonch Hook' to move the ovens, a wisk broom to clean off ashes and a set of tongs to pile your coals. Forget about the iron hanging sets. They are not needed and just complicate things. I use old aluminum trash can lids to control my base embers and if showing off have stacked ovens 4 high on each other. After the Northridge earthquake I arrived at my Grandmother's damaged home with the Coleman 2 burner, enameled camp coffeepot, enamel tub and 4 ovens. Most of the nieghbors were people she knew since everyone arrived in Model Ts in the 20s. The power of course was off everywhere. Within minutes these ladies had hot coffee brewed,beans in the tub and two cobblers, stew and cornbread cooking.I was getting yelled at to bring more firewood for coal making and stay out of the way. Most of the vegetables and fruit had been canned from their own backyards. that was a bitterseat meal, most of those people are passed on, the nieghborhood declared 'run down' by speculators who now have multiple occupancy units in place of the backyard gardens and orchards.

It doesn't get any better than a dutch oven when you're cooking with a fire.

Central OK,
Google "dutch ovens" and you will find all kinds of websites and users who will preach the gospel of cast iron. OK and Texas seems to be a hotbed of such groups, as is Utah.
Intersting history behind cast iron, most notably for use on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Anyplace that was "settled" has a lot of the old time recipes and interest in cast iron cooking.
Me, I keep my eye open at yard and estate sales as many of the "kitchen cowboys" today seem to feel spending $800 on AllClad pots and pans is the only way to go. I have a couple $3.00 Dutch ovens and frying pans.
Full disclosure: I also have AllClads in my Kitchen, but a nice set of cast iron in my garage closet for camping, tailgating and sometime use on the outdoor grill. My Dutch Ovens sometimes get used inside.

Suggestion: Only buy American, Lodge prefered, as the asian cast iron is inferior in everyones opinion... older the better. Check out Ebay as well.
I would rather have an old one than a new one anyway.