Every Tuesday morning on Ottawa Morning, Amrita Singh is your friendly resident Frugalista. She gives all sorts of money-savings suggestions, most of which I can’t be bothered with. Make your own yogurt? No. Mix vinegar with water for window cleaning fluid? My Windex purchases are years apart so there’s no great savings there.
This morning however, she had a suggestion I can really get behind.
You know those special microwave popcorn bags? You don’t need them. Put a quarter cup of popcorn in a paper lunch bag and fold the open end two or three times. Put it into the microwave for about the same time you need for microwave popcorn. When it beeps, enjoy the popped goodness.
I went to the grocery store with Jessica this evening and bought lunch bags and a big package of popping corn. The lunch bags came in a package of 100 for $1.99 and a 1 kg package of popping corn costs $2.49. A quarter cup of popcorn weighs 50 g so 1 kg is good for 20 bags.
Each serving is about ¼ smaller than a pre-packaged microwave bag, and you’ll get more unpopped kernels, but you can’t argue with a bag of popcorn for 15¢, now can you?
It doesn’t come with that nasty rush of toxic fumes when you open the microwave door, either. And you can put whatever you want on the popcorn. You know exactly what you’re eating.
Did I mention it’s just 15¢ a bag? Oh, plus tax. That makes it just over 17¢ a bag.
Suck it, Orville.
Shawn
And substitute the butterfor olive oil. It is healthier for you and will not make the popcorn soggy. It will however fool your taste buds into thinking the popcorn is buttered.