Fray Bentos impossible to open?

[Guacamole001]

I have been trying to open a tin of Fray Bentos steak and onion. My trusty tin openers have both been used. They manage to open everything else but Fray Bentos it just won't budge.

I had to throw it away now as bits of the tin were open and no knife went through which I have tried in the past.

How does anybody open up the blighters? I was looking forward to my customary one Fray Bentos per winter season!

I’ve heard you can’t open them. It’s literally impossible and no one has ever managed it. In fact, I heard that the material they use for space shuttles to protect them on re-entry is based on Fray Bentos tins.

Yep. Like Fort Knox it is.

You need an old tin opener. New ones don't work for some reason. I'm talking 90s style tin openers.

You aren't the only one, try YouTube for amusement.

They said they would redesign the tin. The iconic tin that has always been a bit tricky but, with the advent of pull tabs, has now proven more and more difficult for younger people and can openers alike.

A good quality, heavyweight tin opener should do it. But not many people own those these days.

3 different tin openers, a large knife and a hacksaw, that sorted it and the scarring to my hand has faded.

@HerRoyalHappiness

You need an old tin opener. New ones don't work for some reason. I'm talking 90s style tin openers.

Thinking about it, mine is a wedding present from the late 80s 😯

I had a pie once. I never did get it open.

There's still a hole in my life where that pie should have been.

Yep. Tried to open one a few years ago. Had the same problem. Haven't bothered ever since.

I have this battery tin opener. It's the only thing that worked for us, we've had so many tin openers but DH bought this about 3/4 years ago and it has been brilliant.

www.amazon.co.uk/Coopers-Stortford-Electric-Automatic-Operated/dp/B015FX1KIW?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I opened one last week easily enough with my old fashioned tin opener. In then went straight in the bin because it smelled like dog food.

I had that too and mine didn't work. It couldn't latch on to the tin enough to start or do it properly. Can't remember where I got mine from though but it worked with everything else.

Weird design, the Fray bentos.

Get the Good Grips one.

I had to replace our can opener recently, and checked reviews on Amazon before ordering. Many of them clearly stated whether they passed or failed the Fray Bentos test, which delighted me.

I can attest that this one lives up to its promise, but you have to be careful to keep it level. A FrayBentos is my guilty pleasure when DH is away overnight.

I have or had...we recently moved and I just had a cold clammy moment cos I think I threw it out!!! .... a really old fashioned stab and lever tin opener, that would work on anything when the newer ones would let you down.

I once had a fray bentos pie which had no pastry lid on it, I was furious and emailed them, they denied it hotly but relented very fast when I said I had pictures of the metal lid all covered in sauce. on the inside. Sent me a tonne of vouchers.

Thanks @MsAgnesDiPesto. Perhaps I'll try again this year.

Yep no point us buying them as our tin opener cuts through the sides of tins which does not work on fray bentos as the metal is too thick.

I do them about twice a month and they always come off, standard tin opener nothing fancy

But I did have a large beetroot jar I could not get the lid off for Nearly 6 months. Then one day, pop, it just came off trying to open it normally (it was literally the last time or I was going to throw it away to save my sanity and my hands 😂)

They are the dirtiest of pies, I see them in the range and think I should get one but then remember how bloody hard they are to open.

My son is like 'yuk, a pie in a tin' tried explaining that they are great, so dirty and lovely and you shouldn't really eat them as probably got horse meat in but they taste so good!

Probably apocryphal but a friend of a friend swore that back in the 1940s her father used mend their toilet with used Fray Bentos tins!

Never could fancy a pie after that!

Ooh.

Pie tins great for Yorkshire puddings!

Agree they are hard to open @Guacamole001. Although YABU to eat this slop. I wouldn't feed it to hardened life-serving prisoners. It's vile. I used to have it as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, but when me and DH had one 2 or 3 years ago, we almost threw up. It was putrid. Tipped the lot in the bin.

Impossible and can't be done... And last time I finally hacked one open it was disgusting and not at all how I remembered.

@Guacamole001

I have been trying to open a tin of Fray Bentos steak and onion. My trusty tin openers have both been used. They manage to open everything else but Fray Bentos it just won't budge.

I had to throw it away now as bits of the tin were open and no knife went through which I have tried in the past.

How does anybody open up the blighters? I was looking forward to my customary one Fray Bentos per winter season!

Honestly they should ask the company that make the tins to build our prisons

@LittleDandelionClock

Agree they are hard to open *@Guacamole001*. Although YABU to eat this slop. I wouldn't feed it to hardened life-serving prisoners. It's vile. I used to have it as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, but when me and DH had one 2 or 3 years ago, we almost threw up. It was putrid. Tipped the lot in the bin.

There's always one...