Get Everything Out of Cans, Jars and Bottles
How To Completely Empty Contents From Food and Household Containers
Jun 5, 2009
If you're eco-friendly, have a "waste not, want not" temperment or you're just plain thrifty, you can coax out perfectly good but gooey or thick food and household products that cling to the insides of their packaging. These techniques will enable you to be a better steward of your kitchen larder.
Warm, Shake and Dilute
- Most substances become thinner as their temperatures climb. Thick spreads and syrupy fluids–even paint–move much more easily when they're hot, or at least warm. Heat plastic and glass containers of honey and similar items in the microwave for several seconds to reduce viscosity and improve flowability. Warm cans in a pan of hot water for several minutes, then pour.
- For items packaged in screw cap containers: dilute products that won't suffer from minor thinning–shampoo, liquid detergent, chocolate syrup–and then shake well and dispense the now-thinner fluid.
Canned Items
Round metal cans once were easy to evacuate: cut off both top and bottom lids and push heavy contents like dog food out in a single lump, using one lid as a ram or plunger. Today, many cans have round molded bottoms that are all but impossible to remove with an opener. Employ these two strategies alone or in combination on pudding-like, meaty and creamed items:
- Open the can using a new-generation safe cut or safe edge can opener–the kind that creates a snug-fitting "lid" that won't fall into the can, is nearly water-tight, and has no sharp edges. These are marketed under such brand names as Zyliss, Oxo, Safe Top, Fissler and others. Empty as much of the can's contents as possible. Then pour an appropriate liquid–usually water, milk, broth or juice–into the can, seat and hold the lid firmly, and shake vigorously. Voila! 99% now goes to feeding your family, not into the trash can.
- Gelatinous substances like condensed cream soups often are almost as tight as a cork in a wine bottle and won't budge because an annoying vacuum-like state prevents them from emptying. To avoid the gloppy mess of spooning them out, try this approach: carefully pierce a small "vent" hole into the can's bottom with a sharp-pointed paring knife. Remove the lid and empty the contents, which should release thanks to the vent hole. A few shakes and raps may help disturb the vacuum. If the glob inside still won't move, blow into the hole to nudge the "tube" out in one big lump, with little residue left inside the can.
Salad Dressings, Ketchup etc. In Plastic Bottles
- Let the nearly-empty container sit overnight so its contents can settle. With a serrated bread knife carefully cut horizontally, across the bottom of the bottle, an inch or two up from the top of the contents. Retain the "top" to use as a poor man's funnel, and scoop out the nearly all the French dressing or BBQ sauce from the bottom.
- Alternatively, prop the bottle at a steep angle overnight, lid end pointing down. When the contents settle, pour or squeeze them out.
Peanut Butter, Mayo and Jelly
Many plastic jars and bottles have squiggly sides and bottoms that frustrate rubber spatulas. Sticky or non-flowing items like yellow mustard are easier to reach if you sever the jar in two pieces, crosscut, like a log, or lengthwise. Alternatively, scour the remaining contents with a new toothbrush, or perhaps give the jar to Fido. All that peanut butter licking keeps a dog busy for hours.
Squeeze Tube Items
A tube squeezer or winder, available online and at drug stores, gets most toothpaste and caulk out by advancing the substance inside from one end to the other. If you're super-thrifty, cut the tube open and scour the remainder with a brush.
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