Vocal Voices

As I mentioned briefly on another thread, my S fractured a wrist in a fall last week - she's now in plaster and probably will be for 4-6 weeks. She lives alone, and although the neighbours she has are excellent and will help her, it's the little things like opening a bottle or a can, or even a plastic wrapped container (like a cooked ham packet) that she's quickly found almost impossible to do with just one hand.

We're all racking our brains trying to think of easily opened foodstuffs. Things like loose grapes or bananas, cuppa soups, biscuit and chocolate packets you can rip open. Can you think of anything else you can cope with one-handed?

Not much, now you come to mention it. Crisps (especially Pringles) cans of soup, beans, tins of beer?

Not sure if she can cope with a ring-pull, Crommers, it's a question of getting the leverage up (I don't find some of them easy myself), but it's a very good thought and I'll find out.

Since I had the motorbike accident and really damaged my thumb this has become one of the biggest bees in my flat cap, so I understand where your S is coming from Ossie.

I got an easy opener, something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Multi-Opener-B ... B003UFUVWE for bottles, tins and ring pulls. With packs of meat / cheese I just stab them with a sharp knife and then run it round the pack. For a long time I only used sliced bread and kept the butter / spread (small tubs) out of the fridge for easier spreading.

Cuppa spoups and instant noodles are a godsend for a quick snack and those big chunky beef / chicken and veg soups really do fill you up - they are on offer in Asda ATM - £1.

Jacket potatoes - a quick stab with a fork, then microwaved. Ready prepped salads. Those prepared plastic tubs of veggies for the microwave. Ready cooked chicken breasts?

It must be really difficult to open stuff with a injury even getting dressed frozen ready meals are useful I use pliers to open bleach bottles and have a gadget to pull ring pulls open and a electrical can opener

Hope she gets well soon ossie

I also found those ready meals such as lasagne, cottage pie and hot pots, cookable from their package trays, to be a boon in the short term... and no washing up.

Yes, it's little things like washing up that you don't think of ……

I've passed your various suggestions on, many thanks. I gather she's surviving on tea and toast at the moment …

I thought of this earlier, when I was trying to open a 6 litre bottle of water