People Are Just Discovering How to Open Tightly Sealed Jars with Ease, and It’s Ingenious

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The holiday season is packed with all of my favorite things: heartfelt movies, quality time with loved ones, and, of course, plenty of delicious food. I’m cooking a lot these days and I love spending so much time in the kitchen whipping up delicious bites. But there’s one annoying thing that always stops me in my tracks, literally: when I try to open stubborn jar lids that just won’t budge. You know, the ones that won’t move, no matter how hard you twist? The worst.

It’s so frustrating to stop mid-cooking mode and battle with a jar, of all things. But luckily, you have a few solutions to consider. You could tap it on the counter a few times, but what if it breaks? You could ask someone to have a go at it — but what if you’re home alone, or they can’t get it off, either? If you’ve been there, there is a light at the end of this aggravating tunnel. It’s a super simple game-changing trick that you only need one kitchen staple for.

I saw this brilliant hack in this TikTok video from The Shaba Kitchen, and my mind was blown. There’s a small rectangular piece on manual can openers that, if the can opener is used horizontally, can help lift the lid. She slides that piece underneath the jar’s lid until it fits into a spot, flicks her wrist to the right until she hears a pop, and voilà — the lid’s off in seconds.

I’d always used a handheld can opener up until a few years ago, when I switched to an electric one. I had to see if this trick worked, so I grabbed my old (and I really mean old — don’t mind the rust!) handheld can opener and a brand new jar of salsa I had recently had trouble opening.

I followed the method in the video, and almost instantly, I heard the lip pop. It was a total breeze to twist it off from there! While this worked wonders on my salsa jar, I wouldn’t recommend using this technique on Mason jar lids, as you need a small gap to fit that metal piece into. You could use it on jars of pasta sauce, pickles, or jam, though.

I’ve learned a lot of smart kitchen hacks over the years, and I have to say, this is one of the handiest. You’re simply using what you already have in your kitchen in a clever way to fix an all-too-common problem. Keep this effective trick in mind next time you’re doing battle with a stubborn jar lid!

Have you tried this trick? Let us know how it worked in the comments below!