Change the batteries

I can't tell if it's a battery issue, a struggling issue, or some other type of issue, but my mother attempted to use the Kitchen Mama Mini Electric Can Opener again today. When the battery door is off of the machine, the contraption whirrs like no tomorrow. It's ready to fight and it knows it'll win. When the door is on the machine and it's on a can, the opener struggles to maintain full speed. Almost like being on and in motion / gear is draining the battery to the point you've used it too much and for too long and you forgot to charge it after you used it last... like a decade ago and you're lucky it's still running.

Don't get me wrong, it works wonders - this opener. It's so cool to just attach it to the lid of the can and let it go round and round, but you do need to attach it in such a way, that it will latch on and actually create a different type of seal. You still need to find a way to loosen the newly formed cover because the seal is that good, that you need to pry it off the can. 

Which is great, considering we are all so used to the lid falling in to what we just opened and that's not cool (it's gross). If you plan on keeping the can for something else (or splitting what is inside), the new top is a nice way to have everything together instead of using multiple containers. Or, if you recycle / upcycle, you know you have a top to the can and have it all together. 

You'll see the struggle in the video I'm posting below, on trying to get the lid off, however. Even with two hands, my mother had said that she needed a spatula for help prying on a different can, because she was afraid the rounded / buffered edge was going to cut her. It's slightly sharp, and I think if you're holding it too tight, you will get cut. So you have to be really cognizant of what you're doing. It's duller than a normal edged lid, but it still can do damage nonetheless.

So, after a few false starts again today, we got open two different sized cans for a meat sauce for dinner. We opened a small (6 ounce) Publix brand tomato paste can and a big Tuttorosso (28 ounce) can of tomato puree. Both went in the Crockpot with seasonings and hamburger meat (which is what my mother is working on as I was making a video of the can opener doing its thing). 

We currently have enough leftovers, that we've got meals for days. All because she bought enough meat and put enough stock in the two quart slow cooker, it simmered enough gravy that we can do all sorts of stuff with it.  

She originally intended on giving some to a neighbor (as it is, all cooked) and when she offered to bring some to them, the person thanked her but said they had already eaten (this was around 5:30). Their spouse is in the hospital and my mom thought a fresh home cooked meal might be good for the person instead of worrying about dinner. By the time the question was raised, the person had already eaten and was too nervous to accept the food, as they are worried about the spouse. Which is totally understandable. So we got back in our house, split the sauce up into multiple packages, and froze a couple containers for when we get company in another week or two. 

Be advised: at one point in the video, my mother dripped the puree can on the counter so I had to reach for some paper towel and still try to get the video of the can opening, so don't mind the crazy back and forth when you watch it. I also dumbly shot in vertical (portrait) mode rather than horizontal (landscape) mode because I wasn't thinking. The part I was thinking about, was "don't get everything that's sitting on the counter in this video like last time". I'm not that bright some days. Haha.

I used my iPhone 11 to film the video, Pinnacle Studio to edit the video and I also used stock audio that comes with the software. Again, the video exported with some arrows looped in. I still can't figure out how that happens. Apologies in advance. 

Hopefully it's just the generic batteries we use in this opener, that makes it slow, because taking 3 minutes to open a 28 ounce can is not so economical. Especially since you have to put the opener on the top of the can just right, to get it to turn on, and then start moving. 

It really did take a few starts and pushes to get it going. The generic AA batteries we used were opened for this specific thing too, and they were bought... maybe in July? So it's not like they're 5 years old; just five months old. Guess for these purposes, using name brands are always better? Who knows though. When we open the Duracell pack, I'll be sure to update the review and say we've tried those, and let it be known how they fared. 

Until then, stay hungry. 

And sorry for being all over the place with this. 😟

Cheers;