Give Old Kitchen Gloves A New Lease On Life By Using Them To Solve This Common Problem

Preparing and cooking meals sounds fun for the most part, until you have to open an airtight jar or tub. Whether it's a jar of pasta sauce or pickles — Grillo's pickles are famously hard to open, but worth the effort – you'll often brace yourself for twisting and turning, clenching your teeth, grunting, and putting your weight into the lid in hopes it finally budges. If it still doesn't open, you can try some classic hacks to open a stuck jar lid without breaking an arm, such as running the lid under hot water or tapping it with a butter knife. Mom's way was to run the side of the lid over a flame — a risky method, but it usually got the job done.

Interestingly, there's another trick many people may not be aware of, and it involves the use of kitchen gloves. Typically used for washing dishes or protecting hands from cleaning products, kitchen gloves are made of synthetic materials, like latex, nitrile, vinyl, rubber, and silicone, that can provide a solid grip against slippery surfaces. More often than not, once these gloves have worn thin or sprung a leak, our default response is to throw them away. However, we can also give them a new lease on life by using them to open jars. Just slip on an old glove when you need that extra grip to pop open a tight seal without straining your hands.

The reason why this trick works is friction. Kitchen gloves are mainly designed to prevent slipping when holding wet dishes and other items, and that same property applies perfectly to slick glass jars and their stubborn metal lids. As the texture of the glove clings to the surface, it provides you with a firmer grip than if you were to open the jar with your bare hands. That extra traction from the rubber material translates to more turning power, and this means you can finally open the toughest jars or airtight plastic tubs without wrestling with them or straining your hands.

Aside from its practicality, giving old gloves a new purpose in the kitchen is a sustainable choice. Reusing them reduces non-biodegradable waste. You'll save a little money as well since you no longer have to buy plastic jar openers or grip pads. It is also much safer than resorting to forceful methods, like banging the jar on the counter or tapping the lid with a knife. Using synthetic gloves is unlikely to damage the glass and lid or cause any physical injury. If you like prepping lunches for the week with mason jars, this hack will come in handy all the more. With such a simple trick, a pair of old gloves can become your go-to kitchen ally every time you need to enhance your grip for some twisting action.