Can help on number one, but you could use cooking oil in whatever it is you plan to cook in and check the temperature with a digital by setting a burner to say medium and allowing the oil to heat. I'd just keep a pan of oil handy and use it each time you set up to cook. Regulate your heat based on the temp of the cooking oil then just replace that with a pan of conventional plastic. Be sure to check the plastic's temp thru the process just in case the burner knob gets bumped or whatever.
