You’ll Want to Keep this Emergency Can Opening Tip

Everyone should have a few survival skills up their sleeve just in case emergency strikes, even if it’s something you think you’ll never need. Weather disasters, wilderness mishaps, and sharknados can hit when you least expect, and you could be stuck without essentials.

With this in mind, should you ever find yourself without a can opener but with plenty of canned rations, the hack below could be useful. You might not even be in a survival scenario. You might have a broken opener, you could be visiting someone’s house who lacks this basic tool, or you just hate can openers (wink-wink lefties). Whatever the case, if you’re confident, have a little upper body strength, and a good dose of common sense, this should work fine.

DaveHax spills the canned beans on how to open a can when there’s no can opener available. Provided there’s a metal spoon on deck and a level surface, the right amount of pressure will help pop the top. It’s important to mention that without proper safety precautions, one risks getting cut by the jagged edge of the lid. Here’s a look at how Dave does it:

  1. Grip the can with one hand and the bowl of the spoon in the other.
  2. Rub the edge of the spoon’s tip along the top of the can to make a groove, enabling you to puncture it.
  3. Use the spoon’s edge to cut around the can until it’s open.

Watch the video to learn how and where to start spooning the can. There’s a bit of a methodology to it for an easier carve. DaveHax recommends wearing gloves to prevent getting injured. Nobody wants a severed artery. Nobody wants blood in their canned tuna. And nobody feels like getting a tetanus shot over some canned peaches. So, take his advice or at the very least have a towel or sleeve ready.

Though the reasons could be limited as to why you wouldn’t have a can opener in the first place, you can still add this tip to one of your “Just in Case” lists. Those lists might include: “Just in case a blizzard knocks out our power for days and all we have is an electric can opener”, or “Just in case the end of the world is here and we have to loot for spam and beans, but dang it, we forgot a can opener.”

There you have it folks. Never be caught with cans of scrumptious food and no way to open them, whether you’re out camping or riding out an apocalypse. If you’re faced with a choice of drinking urine, eating rodents, or ripping open a can, this might be the route you want to take. Don’t forget to add metal spoons to your doomsday bunker as a backup to a manual can opener. Remember this tip.

What do you think of this emergency makeshift can-opening hack? Which canned foods do you always keep stocked at home or while on trips? Share with us in the comments!