Ah yes, but where is the Video Demonstration of Meghann's incident???

BTW, I'm more a fan of the "bottom of a mousepad" method. That way I can say "I may be too weak to open this jar like a real man, but at least I'm geeky enough to know lots of creative uses for a mouse pad"

...*sigh*

My grandmother taught me to just use a can opener to break the seal.

From my other grandmother, I received something much more valuable. --Some sort of genetic predisposition that causes me to hate Rachel Ray with a fiery passion.

am missing how this makes the leap from a Lifehack to a Consumerist post? do i need to watch the demo to hear about the jam lobby and their secret memo's that lay out their evil plans to make jars harder to open for inner city residents?

In my experience, a could hard taps on the lid does the trick.

I have one of these jobbers:

http://www.surlatable.com/product/id/129990.do

But a lot cheaper from the hardware store, not the trendy kitchen store.

Darren W., if you get those silicon pot holders, they work like the bottom of a mouse pad for jar-opening traction.

First, Rachael Rae Sucks.

Second, holding a glass jar in your hand and smacking it on the counter like that is a really bad idea. For the same effect with less chance of injury, firmly smack the jar on the bottom with the palm of your hand. If that doesn't work, hitting the lid on the counter won't help.

My preferred method for stubborn jars is to strike the edge of the lid with the back of a butter knife, making 3-4 evenly spaced dents. Works every time.

Or just give it to the ho in Apt 3F. She can suck the bolts off a submarines' hull.

An elastic strap wrench opens pretty much any jar in a nice controlled fashion.

I picked up this set from my local Lowes on 50% off clearance.

Can't watch the video, I like my soul and don't want her stealing it (Bourdain is right about her). RR needs to know how to open jars because she can't cook.

I got one of these http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?sect...
My mother taught us the butter knife trick, as well as running the container under warm water

A safe way to open a jar, which doesn't require any apparatus, is to run it under hot water for 5-10 seconds. The heat expands the metal lid, creating space between the jar's threads and the lid, and instantly facilitating twist off.

Okay, I don't watch her show but not for any particular reason. Why does she suck so?

Sudonum:

i'd never seen one of those plastic jar opener thingys until i moved in with my boyfriend. used to use the butter knife trick, but the jar opener works so much better.

oh, and i hate Rachael Ray with the fires of 1000 suns. and apparently, so do a lot of other people:

http://rrsux.informe.com/index.php

For the same effect with less chance of injury, firmly smack the jar on the bottom with the palm of your hand. If that doesn't work, hitting the lid on the counter won't help.

My preferred method for stubborn jars is to strike the edge of the lid with the back of a butter knife, making 3-4 evenly spaced dents. Works every time.

Yep - these are exactly the same things that I do, even down to using a butter knife.

homerjay, most hate is directed at her simply because she's a big target - she's filling the role Martha Stewart played until she went all white-collar gangsta and went to jail. She's also a face of what the Food Network has become. Food Network isn't about cooking like it used to be, it's now about celebrity chefs and shows with little content and broad appeal. The parallel here is MTv, used to be about music (that's where the 'M' comes from kids) but now there's no music on there anymore (VH1 or 'Video Hits 1' is like this now too. Only some videos in off hours). Same thing with the Food Network, the food isn't there anymore. Food Network got rid of the real cooking shows in favor of RR and Sandra Lee showing us how to turn that can of Spaghetti-O's into a wonderful meal by adding red pepper flakes and garlic powder.

BTW, here is the link to the Bourdain comment I was talking about.

Not to mention that she's really, really, really annoying. I'd never seen her show until I went home for Thanksgiving and my brother turned it on. Just awful. The kind of person who, if you met her in person, you'd want to strangle within five seconds of her opening her mouth.

Yes, that's true. You can only hear 'EVOO', 'sammy', and 'yum-o' so many times before you go crazy.

But as Emeril showed, evidently you need a catchphrase. BAM!

Okay, I get it. People feel about her like I still feel about Emeril... He's a pompous windbag.

Rachel's hot, you all know it.

I wish someone would have replaced one of those jars with a fragmentation grenade. That would have been compelavision! Fire in the hole!

Alton brown is the last redeeming thing about the food network. All that man touches turns to solid gold.

All rachel ray touches turns to crap, EVOO coated crap.