Home-Made Bagged Popcorn!

I don’t know about you, but my family goes through a TON of popcorn. We love it. My father-in-law got me one of those counter-top movie popcorn makers one Christmas because he knew I love it so much. While living in Italy, we were quite a way from the commissary, and as fast as we went through it, we just started buying the kernels to make on the stove.

For the longest time, I wouldn’t let my boys have it because of the choking hazard (because I’m neurotic like that), other than a bite here and there. But when our oldest turned 5, I decided maybe I should get real and stop holding out. They love it! Even now, I can’t make some without having to share.

When Kroger had their generic bagged stuff on sale a while back at 10 for $10, I grabbed several boxes. We went through them in about 3 weeks. I can’t say where I heard, but somewhere deep in my brain, I remembered someone telling me you could make home-made bagged popcorn at home. So off to Google I went!

I found several “recipes” and directions, so I got the general idea and tried it out myself.

Here’s what I came up with:

-1/4 cup popcorn kernels

-1 tbsp. oil, just enough to coat (any vegetable blend will do. I actually use olive oil and don’t notice a flavor difference. There are also specific popcorn oils, but I don’t know much about them).

-Standard lunch-size brown paper bag

-Salt or other desired flavorings

-Stapler

The directions are as expected; just pour the popcorn and oil into the bag, add your seasoning, fold over and staple closed. Throw in the microwave for anywhere from 2-4 minutes. That part will vary. Our microwave has a popcorn setting, but I don’t like it. It never worked well for the pre-bagged stuff, so I like to just put mine on for 3 minutes and stand by, adding time if needed.

Then just tear the bag open!

I will warn you that it seems to pop much faster than pre-bagged popcorn, and can burn a lot faster. I won’t tell you how many times our house had the “burned popcorn” stench because I was trying to figure out the timing! But in the end, it’s just like the stove-top kind! The bag will leave some oil on your microwave plate, but I usually just make a quick wipe immediately after making it, and it doesn’t cause a problem.

The best part: it’s dirt cheap! Even getting the $1 boxes, I was paying $0.33 per bowl. I have calculated that the bag I recently bought for $2.99 should make approximately 60 bowls, which would be $0.05 each!

Have you ever made home-made popcorn or have some favorite seasoning recipes to share?