Can opener? More like can’t open ‘er!
Photo courtesy Paul Posadas / Flickr
On an earlier post, a new reader to this blog, Perch, brought up a kitchen gadget question. I’ll let you read his exact comment:
“We have noticed a problem in our kitchen in the last couple of years…opening cans! Why such a simple and universal act has become such a problem is beyond me. While we have bought several can openers in the last two years after using the same one for a decade or so without problems, we still cannot consistently open cans these days without problems. Electric ones, hand operated ones, cheap or expensive, all give us fits. Have the manufacturers of canned goods changed something? I am sorry to butt in on another subject, but I am at a loss and figured I’d give you a shot. If I’m off target and just unlucky, could you recommend a brand or type of opener that you feel comfortable with? Am I the only one who has noticed this? Thanks for your patience, I appreciate any help you can give me.”
None of my research indicates that the materials used in food cans have changed in recent years. If someone knows otherwise, please clue me in. More likely this is a case of bad openers, whether manual or electric.
I grew up in an electric can opener household and still prefer to open cans that way. If I only have a hand-held opener I’ll use it, but nothing ticks me off more than a cheap, dull, useless manual can opener that hurts my hand. Fortunately, they make good hand openers. And can the blades of can openers be sharpened?
Here’s what a few readers had to say to Perch so far:
Debbie says she has a great manual can opener that is very comfortable to use. She’s going to check the brand and get back to us.
John said he’s been happy with this manual opener he bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Kristen said she has a hand-operated opener that “cuts off the lid in such a way that there aren’t the sharp edges. I love it, and I really dislike electric openers because I feel like they get nasty fast.”
Has anybody else had problems with can openers? Are you in the electric or the hand-held opener camp? Have a great opener you’d recommend?
March 6, 2013 - 3:03 PM
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I have one “Good Grips” from a Dollar Store in Vinton that we have had for several years and it is really good and easy to use.
I use one that looks a lot like the on John uses and do not have any problems with it. I agree with Kristen that the blade on an electric can opener seems kind of skeevy.
We have an OXO manual opener that is super easy to use. It has a nice large crank and cuts smoothly and evenly. The handles are easy to grip, too.
I’m in the manual can-opener camp (third cabin down on the left, with the Warholian painting of Cambell’s soup cans on the door). Swing-A-Way is hard to beat, but I have a KitchenAid brand because the larger handle is easier for me to use when my arthritis is acting up. I do still miss my lefthanded can opener which, although like most lefties I’ve adjusted to living in a wrong-handed world, was a lot of fun to watch righthanded people try to use.
I’m sorry, Perch, the brand name isn’t marked on my can opener. The handles are hard black plastic and a couple inches wide, which gives it a comfortable grip. I’ve had it for a long time, and can’t remember where I bought it. It was either at K-Mart of Kroger. I don’t like electric can openers, because I always end up spilling some of the contents of the can.
I looked up the patent # on my can opener on Google and got this, it describes it but doesn’t tell you where to get it. It’s like Kristen’s, it cuts the lid without leaving sharp edges.
http://www.google.com/patents/US5946811
Ditto on the OXO! We’ve had one for ages, love it.
Thanks, Lindsey and all posters. It’s not like we just went cheap or had a bad one or two. We’re talking maybe six or seven purchases in the last two years. I am wondering about some kind of karmic payback for kitchen transgressions past, but our problems have been vexing. Incomplete cuts, ribbons of paper from the label peeling up into the can, you name it. I keep wondering when I’ll swallow or bite into a bit of metal from a bad opening job.
Anyway, thanks for your help, I will bet that you all will solve my problem with your helpful responses.
I’m with Lori. I have an OXO manual can opener that sounds like hers and it is fabulous. Finally went the manual route after purchasing several sub par electric can openers. The great thing about the OXO is the can size doesn’t matter – it can open huge cans that an electric cannot handle. And it’s super easy to clean.
Looks like Debbie has a standard side cutting can opener. These are popular from places like Pampered Chef and other kitchen gadget marketers. Cheap and very good.
I bought a manual can opener by OXO that looks remarkably similar to the one that OJ uses. That was about two decades ago, and it hasn’t nneded sharpening since then. I clean it twice a year, even when it doesn’t need it. It has yet to fail, and I have yet to be so frail as to be unable to operate it. Sometimes ‘modern improvements’ amount to nothing more than misconstrued gadgets that do nothing more than dissipate our financial resources.
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My advice? Crank off the lid the way your parents did, and spend the same price your parents did for the minimal amount of labor expended.
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What do the weak among us do when the power goes out? Are they unable to open a can of pinto beans to heat over the fire of their $2500 faux stainless steel gas grill? Will they perish from being so frail? Sometimes I wonder…
I didn’t get mine from Pampered Chef, Michael Newman, but it has been very good. It’s very comfortable to hold and works very well. II have a lot of OXO products, they are good.
I bought a Cuisinart electric opener a couple of years ago, thinking it would be great. Worst I’ve ever had! Sometimes it opens fine, but mostly you have to “work it” around. It also leaves slivers of the paper you have to clean off the counter. I’ve thought about contacting Cuisinart to see if mine is defective, but since reading this blog….I assume not.
I have found that same problem, Perch, I thought it was just me and I had lost the ability to open a simple can. I have several manual can openers including the one that cuts the can along the edge of the top and doesn’t leave a sharp edge. That one always worked great on all cans but now only works on certain cans. One can it will no longer open is Lesueur Peas, for that can I have to use a different can opener. Something did change.
Are we going to have a Taproom thread? I’m really curious what everyone else thinks about it.
Yep, just posted, Kristen.
Thanks again, everyone. OJ, thank you for the BB&B link and tip. Price is right and the reviewers gave it such high marks, it seems like well worth the 5.99 purchase price. The OXO sounds good as well, although I had one once that the cutting wheel fell off of after a short while. Must have been the only bad one they ever made, continuing my bad luck streak!
RM, I know what you mean. We currently have three openers, all with cans they will and will not open, so I’m still believing something changed in the manufacturing of at least some cans, but that’s why I asked you all for help.
Crooked road…I’m not frail yet, we only bought an electric opener (first in my 62+ years of life) because of the failure of several hand operated ones.While the majority of my can opening seems to be for dog food cans these days, if all else fails, I’ll use a church key and a butter knife to get into those pintos.
Now, about that 2500 dollar grill. I have worse luck with gas grills than I do can openers. Seems any grill I can afford, the burners rust out in a year. But that’s a subject for another day.
Thanks again to all.
I grew up having an under-the-cabinets Black & Decker electric can opener. It worked fine for small cants of 16-oz and less, but larger cans than that and it was useless. The blade also would get funky and it was difficult to clean, being a permanently-installed model…and electric.
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With our Swing-A-Way being stainless steel, we run it through the dishwasher on a regular basis, and whenever it gets tomato sauce or something on it, we give it a solid cleaning in the sink before storing it, just to help prevent both corrosion, and potential foodborne illnesses related to bacterial growth (we’re sticklers as much as we can be).
Perch, we’ve used ours to open the small cans of tomato sauce and tomato paste, regular 15-16 oz cans, and even some of the larger 32-oz cans with no problem. We also once used it to open a 5-pound can of nacho cheese we got at Sams Club.
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Some of the previous openers we had used would shred the paper labels, getting the confetti into the food…or would merely dent the can lid, rather than cut through it, or would slip off the lip of the can, requiring a firm grip on both the opener and the can…with a third hand required to turn the knob!
Thanks, OJ. I’ll have to research the Swing-A-Way. Your last paragraph describes my last two years worth of can opening.
Correction to OJ. Didn’t mean research, meant “get one”.
Can Trick:
Open both sides to get tomato paste or thick soups out by pushing it through.
Salemite, good idea, now if I can just get one side open….