General Chat

Try holding the lid of a jar or bottle in your left hand with thumb and first finger.
Because of the way the joints in your hand work, the grip tightens as you turn.
Use your right hand and the grip loosens as you apply pressure.

Doesn't work on all lids but if you put an elastic band around the lid it helps you grip it without slipping if not hot water works.

I was surprised to see my sis in law pop the prosecco cork so easily...LOL

I bought a few small plastic bottles and ask the pharmacist to put said tablets in them and I don't screw them tight.

I also use hot water on the lids that are impossible to shift. Provided the lids and jars are different materials (usually plastic and glass) it will work because one expands faster in the heat than the other.

As for paracetamol :-| I agree with Island. Most foil blister packs I can manage, but they are impossible. They seem to have plastic as well as foil on them. I now use a sharp knife and slit them all when I open a new pack.

I don't have a lot of strength in my grip and I have a tremor that comes and goes so some of the lever type tools just don't work for me. I can't get a firm enough hold on them.

Over 50 years ago OH brought back from Sweden a device that sits underneath a kitchen wall cupboard or something similar. It was wonderful but when we moved 9 years ago we left it behind. Because it was under a wall cupboard it wasn't visible and we forgot it. A few months ago he found something similar on Amazon. It's a plastic square with a toothed, V-shaped notch in it. You slide your bottle/jar into the notch, the size of the lid determining how far into the V it goes. It's held quite firmly and you just have to give the jar a twist. I don't think it is quite as good as my original Swedish one but it works well enough.

When I am swearing because I can't get a tablet out of a blister pack or I can't open something I find myself saying "How on earth is an old person supposed to manage?". Then I remember that I AM an old person ;-)

I used a metal nutcracker once to open a bottle lid

I thnk I've got that, or someting very similar, tucked away in a drawer. Didn't find it very useful, I couldn't use it to open plastic bottle tops ( drinks bottles) I can't remember how the other bits work. Must go and dig it out and try it again.

This type
MAEXUS 6 in 1 Multi Opener Jar Opener, 5 in 1 Bottle Can Opener Set, Seal Soda Lid Twist Grips with Instructions, Jar Opener for Chef Kids Kitchen Holiday Party Fath

I have arthritis in fingers and thumb joints
Big difficulty in opening cans even the pull type

Vacuum sealed jars are a pain as haven’t got the power to turn them
In the past I would stab the lid with a knife to release the vacuum and then it would open

But time moving on I did find a tool on Amazon that would prise the side of a lid and release vacuum

It’s invaluable

Wish I could post a picture :-(

For most plastic packaging, I always use scissors now and dont struggle trying to open say a packet of biscuits or a block of cheese.

As for tins of sardines, they invariably end up anywhere except on me plate as the lid springs back and spits orange sauce everywhere!

I think all that type of packaging started because some people were contaminating the food stuff with chemicals that made people ill.

paracetamol blister packs - when did the foil get so tough? :-|
Zip locks on cheese packets :-|

My nephew opened a tin of sardines at 18 months! :-0

I find the the openers that take the lids off crown lidded bottles good for breaking the seals on jars so you can actually open the jar easily.

Well done - that’s the one. Well worth the money. OH now has arthritic hands and it is a god send as I don’t have to fight with all his lids, just my own ;-)
It also saves on the spoons which I used to use to do the same job.

I have read that people use cherry stone poppers on their pill packs. Don’t have one so don’t know if they work bit worried that the pill might go flying and I’d never find it.

found a tool on amazon

www.amazon.co.uk/Jarkey-Food-Vacuum-Releaser-Opener
£5.45.

Probably Lakeland sell something similar

I have a lever type tool which breaks the air seal on jars - very handy, but p,ease don’t ask me where I got it as I’ve had it for ages. Think I bought it knowing that one day I would need it.

Recently I got my tiny pills in a blister pack, the blister was so big that I couldn’t pop it to get the tiny pill out.

I always turn the corned beef tins upside down and use a can opener because I find those ring-pulls too hard to start most of the time.

To open those jars (jams, chutney etc) that seem to be clammed tightly shut, I run hot water around the spot where lids meet glass - and it works. Another method I have used is to jam the lids in the hinged part of the door, keeping the door as tightly open as possible to get a firm grip on the lid, then twisting the jar but I am always wary in case the glass smashes.

I agree, battery packs are dire to open sometimes.

I struggle with lids on jars of sauces etc so I hit the side of the lid a few times with my rolling pin and then find it open more easily. A few times, I have actually caused myself chest pain trying to open a lid!

I have to take aspirin, they have gone from a tub of loose tabs to blister packs of 25. I simply cannot get them out of the foil.

Luckily Beloved is a dab-hand and get it done in a few minutes and into a spare tub.