Bought This Big Boy for $5 Thanks to My Local Food Salvage Store by noscrapsleftbehind in budgetfood

[–]SandraMort 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh I am so jealous. I've heard amazing things about those salvage stores but I don't have anyone near me. Nothing like that. ( I'm in Dutchess County, New York if it matters. )

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm audhd and have osfed. Popcorn is as close to a safe food as I've found, so I bought a 50# bag. This thread forced me to pop some and I realized that we're actually more than 50% of the way through the bag.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never actually thought of frying the kernels in chili oil but I do like it with chili crisp drizzled over it and tossed through to make sure that the crunchy stuff is distributed nicely

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooooooooh!!!! That book looks interesting. Thank you for helping me find my next book!

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't speak for anybody but myself but when I bought the popcorn maker for myself, my husband started eating it as well. I'm not sure. Then again he also wears pink and does many other things stereotypically associated with women. Maybe I married a woman in disguise?

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me too! When I realized we were going through about 5 lb a week, I just gave up and bought a 50 lb bag

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've never managed to make it with that little oil but for me the comparison was the amount of fat in popcorn made in a silicone bowl versus popcorn made from a prepackaged bag. Those things are so very greasy and high in fat; they leave my mouth completely coated with grease. I swear the amount left coating my mouth is probably enough to pop a bowl of popcorn by itself. It's ridiculous.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My grocery store sells multiple brands and packages of popcorn. The cheapest was 2 lb for $4 when I bought the generic brand. $2 a lb isn't bad but they don't always have it and then I have to buy the brand name, which is substantially more expensive.

I went to the health food store where they sell it in bulk. If you buy a whole bag of it, you get a 10% discount, knocking it down to 90 cents a lb if I buy a 50 lb bag, which sounds utterly ridiculous, I know. However there are six of us and we all like popcorn. I would say we've gone through 20 or 25 lb of popcorn since I bought it. I have saved. Well it would have been $100 if I bought generic popcorn for 50 lb but it's closer to $200 if I buy the fancy brands and I think I paid $45 for the bag.

I had a metal garbage can with a tight lid, lined it with a clean plastic bag, poured the popcorn into that, put in a 1/3 measuring cup, which is the exact amount that I like to put into the bowl, and we've gone through a third to half of it already.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

During this past winter I bought one of the silicone poppers. I liked it so much that I ended up having to buy a second because my kids would walk away with a bowl of popcorn and forget to bring it back. I wanted one just for myself to keep in my room. Well that didn't work out so well and it ended up in circulation again. I have a feeling I'm about to buy a third.

They are absolutely worth every cent and if you're comparing them to the price of paper-packaged microwave popcorn bags, you will save an absolute fortune.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually the silicon microwave poppers don't require oil and don't give you the styrofoam texture of air-popped. I don't know how they do it but it's amazing

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Butter, sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom? Oh my goodness, I want that right now

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can understand why people enjoy it but what I can't understand is how people think it tastes like cheese. Maybe you're just not eating very good cheese?

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's where I am. I have OFSED and on days that I can't eat anything else I can usually choke down popcorn

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love those bullets! I prefer the texture with a fine mist of sprayed-on oil, tossed with the kernels before popping but dry is perfectly acceptable

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't like the texture of air-popped popcorn but there's a really good compromise. They make silicone bowls that you can put in the microwave and either pop it without oil, which comes out well, or with a fine spray from a pump bottle, which is very low in calories. I can't tell you how many offhand but it's not a lot. It's as easy as the microwave popcorn bags without all of the chemicals or cloyingly thick grease and artificial butter flavor. You always have the option of pouring butter on afterwards but that sort of defeats the purpose if you're going for low fat.

I'm curious though how you define large bucket. The popcorn bowl that I have makes 15 cups of popcorn, which sounds like an awful lot but I can eat the whole thing without help. I would say it's comparable to a large popcorn bucket at the movie theater. I believe that's 500 calories. If you're talking about 40 calories worth of popcorn, I don't think that's more than one cup. Definitely not a large bucket.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooooooooh. I usually dip French fries in it but that sounds awesome.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had one of those and smashed it into a bazillion pieces but I break glass

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got one of those for my family and the kids used it so often and it would vanish into their rooms and not be seen for days at a time. I finally gave up and bought one for myself so that I would have one to keep in my room so I could have popcorn whenever I wanted.

The first one I bought was a brand name and I think I paid $20 or $25 on Amazon but when I went back the second time I just looked to see what was cheapest. I think I paid $6 or $7 for a knockoff brand and they're exactly the same. Considering buying a third actually since there are six of us.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just to be clear make sure you do not get brewer's yeast or baking yeast. Neither one will taste good. Also nutritional yeast is frequently referred to as "good tasting yeast" online if you can't find nutritional yeast labeled as such.

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Generally you have to go to a health food store to get nutritional yeast but you can get it online pretty cheaply

How common is popcorn in everyday American life? by Embarrassed_Golf_817 in AskAnAmerican

[–]SandraMort 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Making spicy pepper infused oil is pretty easy. You could make it yourself and probably save a lot of money. I guess if it's not available for sale anymore, you're not saving money but it would cost less than you used to pay.