Ouch!!!

Dear Cat's food is in ring-pull cans. I put the handle of a sturdy wooden spoon through the ring and use this as a lever. Works for me.

I can get the plastic off the milk carton ok; it's the seal inside that I struggle with. I had a friend years ago who surprised me by owning an electric can opener [she was very anti gadget] but now my hands are really bad I understand. Once I've pulled the metal thing back on a can, pulling the rest of it off is a nightmare, and I'm always scared of cutting myself badly. Feeding my ex's cats at the moment and have to do battle with the cat food tins every day .

chicken, I buy ready to eat prunes in a packet and seal it with a clippit. You can also get them in a screw top plastic jar. Doesn't help with other cans though....

I have a battery opener which I bought on mail order. It is supposed to clip on to the lid, circle the lid whilst cutting it, and then lift the lid off with a magnet. The video on the website looks wonderful, but mine is utterly useless.

I sympathise with you chicken I have the same problem. Tins of tuna are the worst, and they make such a smelly mess if you do succeed in opening the can.
I usually ask husband to open the difficult ones.

I love my nutcrackers there great for opening small bottle tops even screw top wine bottles and also a wooden spoon to open ring pull cans once I've levered it up first with a knife!

i've got this wonderful gadget which i found when i moved into this house 20+ years ago - it looks a bit like a nut cracker but there are various sizes of "holes". everything from the top of a fizzy drink bottle to the biggest screwtop lid can be opened by this ................ but it won't open a ring loop!
i usually use either a knife [dinner or table] and lever the loop up enough to break the seal. then i just open it as usual. no broken nails, no blood anywhere and no frustration.

Tight lids on jars will open really easily if you run them under hot water for a few seconds

I use a "Can ring loop pull opener" you can look it up on the net, I have what I call sad fingers, works well on those tins, and nutcrackers for wine bottles

Friend gave me a useful tip with tight jar lids. Turn upside down in sink, use a screwdriver to ease lid away from jar. This releases the seal, the jar opens easily and there are no stab holes in the lid. Hurrah!

Have to say that nutcrackers are essential for the opening of bottles of Prosecco!

For anything like a bottle top - if I cannot unscrew it and it is small enough I use my Gran's tip and wedge it into the door frame, close the door (holding it shut with my foot) then twist the bottle, usually works a treat. I can never open the jars of gherkins that my daughter buys - they are vacuum sealed - she hates it when I resort to sticking the knife in the lid to release the vacuum (the lid is so easy to remove then) so I keep a spare clean lid with no knife mark to replace the one I have stabbed and she is none the wiser! It goes in the dishwasher once the jar is empty ready to replace the next lid.

I guess arubber glove would do the trick, annodomini, the rubber circle was given to me years ago, but it it ever dies on me or gets lost I will try the glove

My mum was great the other day with a large tin of tuna, she came into the kitchen from the larder, armed with an electric tin opener and attacked the tin several times to no avail, turned it over to try the other side - as you do, right? there was the ring pull - we giggled for quite a while over that one!

I'm surprised to hear that supermarkets will open bottles for people.

You'd think that would leave them wide open to claims for negligence these days - 'oh, they didn't do it up again properly and bleach spilt all over my car seats...'.

Ilrina, you don't need to buy one of those rubber circles for opening jars. A rubber glove does the job just as well.

I have two of those old openers, WB. I live in dread of losing them both - I'd be stuck.

wooden spoon sounds like a great idea!

DramaticTessa Use the handle of a wooden spoon as a lever on the ring. You can get more purchase on the long handle, and it doesn't hurt your fingers like gripping the metal ring.

I use one of those old opener for evaporated milk tins, they lift the lip just enough to break the vacuum seal.

The seal on tight lids can be broken by soundly tapping the edge of the lid on a hard surface, like a worktop. It can then be opened very easily. No need for gizmos. Haven't worked out an easy way to open the partly pesky ring pulls yet.

Yes I have one of those rubber circles too-brilliant!
I understand supermarkets will help loosen tops of difficult bottles for you (and then do them up again!)

Ilrina, I have one of those and I bought it from Betterware a few years ago. Such a simple and effective design. You're right, it is fantastic. ?

I have a wonderful thing for opening tight jar lids, doesn't work for ring pulls though. Someone gave it to me so not sure where it can be purchased but I would imagine lakeland? It looks like a circular bit of rubber matting with little holes in it. It is fantastic

Anya, I have an old pair of nutcrackers which is ideal for opening milk and juice carton caps. The caps are too small for most opener devices.