How to open a can without a can opener: 3 ways to get your food out

Canned goods are a great pantry and camping staple – ideal for situations when you don't have a fridge handy or need to stock up for the days and months ahead.

Canned soups and vegetables flew off the shelves during the early days of the pandemic, leaving metal manufacturers scrambling to speed up production. This consumer phenomenon is called "pantry-loading," the New York Times reported in May 2020.

Whether you’re still going through your stocked goods or on a camping trip without kitchen tools, we’ve compiled the best tips for opening cans safely without a can opener.

Using a can opener is the easiest and most efficient way to open canned goods, but there are still ways to get your food out if yours is lost, broken or nonexistent. In fact, the first can opener wasn't patented until 1855, 50 years after people started storing food in cans. Early canned food enthusiasts used a chisel and a hammer to open their goods. And while you could try that, we've got three other tricks you might want to test out, first.

Even opening a can with a can opener leaves our hands vulnerable to sharp edges, so you’ll want to be extra careful when using these DIY methods, which will likely leave you with sharp, jagged metal.

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You can use a metal spoon and pressure to pop open a can if you’re in a pinch. Follow these instructions from DaveHax, but be careful not to cut yourself on sharp edges:

You can also use a knife to open a can, though you should exercise caution with both the knife itself and the sharp edges of the can. Make sure your knife is clean because it’ll be touching the food inside the can. Here's how to do it in a few steps, from CookingWithVianey:

If you’re in the kitchen but lack a can opener, you can use a regular chef's knife to open up a can. The sharper your knife is, the easier this will be. Here's a safe method of cutting open a can with a knife, but you should always use caution to make sure your hands don't get in the way:

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