Make Microwave Popcorn Using A Simple Brown Paper Bag

If you’ve been buying microwave popcorn because of the convenience — or a belief that the bag has special popcorn enhancing powers — you’ll want to check out this incredibly inexpensive way to make microwave popcorn at a sixth the cost of commercial bags.

The writers at Squawkfox, a frugality-centred blog, were shocked when they did the maths on how much they were paying for the convenience of pre-bagged popcorn. When they crunched the numbers they realised they were paying over $US3.50 a pound for popcorn versus $US0.50 for a raw pound of popcorn. What do you get for the extra three bucks? A whole lot of fancy packaging and a whole lot of questionable ingredients. From the back of the popcorn box:

Popcorn, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Annatto colour. Contains: Fish, Milk

I suppose we should all take comfort that popcorn still comes first in the ranked list before artificial flavours and fish. In light of pre-packed popcorn costing six times more than bulk popcorn kernels, they started experimenting with their own versions of microwave popcorn. All you’ll need to follow in their footsteps is a brown paper lunch bag, bulk popcorn and a measuring cup. Dump half a cup of popcorn into a brown paper bag, fold the top a few times to keep the popcorn from popping out and making a mess of your microwave, and toss it in the microwave for a minute and a half. When it’s done you can salt and butter to taste — check out their full guide at the link below for some creative popcorn seasoning ideas.

Have your own clever way to save money around your home or kitchen? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

How to Microwave Gourmet Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag [Squawkfox via Wise Bread]