What If We Didn't Have To Twist Jar Lids To Open Them?

While technology has created cooking concepts we couldn't have imagined 75 years ago—lab-grown meat, nitro-dispensed coffee, The Flippin' Fantastic—other kitchen gear has remained solidly unchanged for decades. Exhibit A: jars. We still buy pasta sauce, jam, and salsa in almost exactly the same formats our grandparents did, but one packaging company says it doesn't have to be that way. Consumer Convenience Technologies announced it's debuted a vacuum-sealed jar lid that can be opened at a the press of a button. No more twisting.

The so-called EEASY Lid requires only a slight push to open up a slit that releases the vacuum, opening the jar. Consumer Convenience Technologies says this reduces the torque needed to open the jar by 40%, and could benefit people who have arthritis, carpel tunnel, hand-strength issues, or are recovering from surgery.

The lid isn't just a prototype, either: It will debut in 18 stores in January as packaging for Pennsylvania-based Boyer's Food Markets' house brand pasta sauce. The manufacturer says it's also in talks with other national and international brands to package other products with two sizes of the EEASY Lid. Any product that makes food packaging accessible to more people—and just plain easier—gets a thumbs-up from us.