Bachelor on the Cheap

How cheesy is it?

By Mike Thayer

If I had to choose a favorite popcorn flavor, I'd have to go with cheese.  Yes, even above the classic - butter.

It's been awhile since I've done a bagged popcorn review, not since the summer in fact!  When it comes to popcorn snacking as of late, it's been focused on creating new, healthier recipes replacing butter with olive and avocado oils.

But not in the mood to pop my own corn today, I'm checking out Brim's Snack Foods Cheese Popcorn.

Memphis, Tennessee based Brim's Snack Foods makes and distributes pretty much the full gamut of savory snacks, chips, popcorn, pork rinds, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese puffs and curls.  They are a major player in what you see stocked in the Dollar Tree snack aisle.

They make a cheese popcorn, so I just "had" to check it out and see how good or "eh" it is.

In opening the bag, you get a nice cheesy whiff, but it's not in-your-face.  The corn was nicely popped, the kernels fat and there was good coverage of the cheese flavoring.  Brim's uses a mixture of cheddar and blue cheese in their flavoring, an interesting mix, making this popcorn similar to what Old Dutch produces, a brand I really like.  Brim's is similar but not quite as robust in cheese flavor.  Comparing it to Chester's Cheddar Popcorn, I like Brim's better.

Fat kernels, good cheese coverage.

Costing me $1.25 for a 6 ounce bag at Dollar Tree, I'm giving Brim's Snack Foods Cheese Popcorn 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars.  Very reasonably priced, it's a good popcorn with decent cheese flavor.  There was a consistent pop with the corn, with minimal Old Maids in the bottom of the bag.  It's not as robust as Old Dutch or Smartfood brands, but it's better than Chester's.  As inexpensive as it is, it's most certainly worthy of a repeat buy.  When you're not in the mood to pop your own, this is a good alternative.

Related: Food Review: Chester's Popcorn - Cheddar

$pend Wisely My Friends...

If you appreciate the work I do and want to support more great content, recipes, cost comparisons, product, service and food reviews, recall information, etc., on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help me expand my consumer information reach with a one-time or a monthly donation.  Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike

20 ounce bag

By Mike Thayer

Popcorn, it's always been one of my favorite snacks.  It's also playing a bigger role in my daily diet, now that I've eliminated fast food and fried foods in general from my menu.

Popcorn is a healthy snack, provided you don't overload it with butter, salt or sugary toppings.  It's a whole grain food, high in fiber and believe it or not a low carb snack, with just 5 grams of carbs per cup of popped corn.  If you're counting calories, there are just 20 calories per cup of popped corn.

I prefer yellow popcorn, the kernels pop up bigger and are more durable than white popcorn, tending not to get soggy when dressed with toppings.  Yellow popcorn is what you see most often in movie theaters.

Keeping things healthy when popping, I use the microwave and a Salbree Popper, dumping about a cup of kernels in the popper, no oil required.  It takes less than 4 minutes to pop, when the time between pops hits 5-6 seconds, your popcorn is done.  For toppings, I've switched from using melted butter as a base for dressing the popped corn to using olive and avocado oils.  It's been fun and tasty getting creative in making that switch! 

There must be some government labeling requirement for listing raw product, in this case UNpopped kernels... Who eats raw kernels? But look at the carb count and calorie drop after popping. Why is that? Because you can put A LOT more unpopped kernels in a cup, than you can fluffy, popped kernels. A kernel of popcorn can pop up to 40 times its original size.

Jolly Time popcorn pops up nice, the amount of "Old Maids" in a batch of popped corn is minimal, but I honestly can't tell you if that's because Jolly Time has a superior kernel, or if it's the Salbree Popper method of making popcorn.  I've popped other brands with the same, minimal Old Maids result.  I will say the Jolly Time kernels pop up nice, big and fluffy!

Costing me just $1.25 at Dollar Tree for a 20 ounce bag, I'm giving Jolly Time Yellow Popcorn 5 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars.  It's VERY reasonably priced and pops up great.  Compare that to a 30 ounce jug of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn at the mainstream grocery store priced at a whopping $6.99!  Ouch!  Even the mainstream grocery store discount brand is pricey in comparison, with the Kroger brand of yellow corn priced at $2.99 for  a 30 ounce bag.

Related: Product Review: The Salbree Popper

Related: Popcorn Reviews & Recipes

$pend Wisely My Friends...

Enjoy this post?

If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation.  Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike

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Popcorn dressed with warm olive oil & a bagel seasoning blend with sea salt, garlic, onion, sesame seeds, poppy seeds. Just 80 mg of sodium per serving vs. the 480 mg if I would have used Kosher salt.

By Mike Thayer

Regular readers know that I love popcorn, I mean, why else would I have a section of this blog dedicated to it?  I review the packaged stuff from the grocery store shelves as well as try out new flavor combinations when I pop my own at home.

But it hit me today that I'm missing an opportunity here...  All my flavor combinations are based in melted butter.  Classic butter and salt; butter with garlic and salt; butter with Sriracha & Parmesan; butter with leftover condiment packets from restaurants; butter used as the base to make a Buffalo sauce popcorn; butter used to make a caramel sauce and so on.

But after a recent doctor visit where I was 'cautioned' about LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and sodium intake, a reduction of animal fats to include butter is in order.

I pop my popcorn in the microwave using a Salbree Popper, no oil required, keeping the aspect of "Popcorn is a healthy snack" in tact.  Flavoring it is where the unhealthy aspect kicks in and with a reduction in the use of butter now a part of my daily diet, I need alternatives to flavoring popcorn.  I need to think outside the box.  

You can see the highlights of olive oil and poppy seeds

Option 1:  Olive oil.  Healthier than butter which is 63% saturated fat, olive oil has a nice flavor profile which is why it is used so often in a wide variety of food preparations such as salad dressings, pestos, marinades, etc, and is a better tasting cooking alternative to traditional vegetable oils.   The bonus:  Just 14% saturated fat.   Olive oil also contains heart-healthy monounsaturated 'good' fats and antioxidants.

So in terms of flavoring that freshly popped popcorn, I can add new flavors to the recipe collection, olive oil & Parmesan; olive oil & Balsamic vinegar; olive oil & pomegranate for a sweet kick and added texture, any fruit flavoring for that matter like a squeeze of grapefruit juice or blood orange; basil; Mushroom Umami; toasted sesame; Harissa; Chipotle and so much more! 

Option 2:  Avocado oil.  Avocados are considered a "Super Food" rich in antioxidants, monounsaturated fats and oleic acid, all aiding in heart health.  Besides that, the flavor is awesome!  So I'm thinking the flavors of guacamole here right off the bat, avocado oil and garlic, with onion powder and a kick of jalapeno and/or cayenne.  I'll be trying avocado oil and dry ranch dressing.  Other flavor pairings to experiment with will include but not be limited to:  Chili powder; pistachio; dill; nutmeg; mint; hazelnut; low sodium chicken bouillon powder; dry-roasted coconut; and I'm even going to try a mango juice reduction.

Just warm up some olive or avocado oil, add an additional flavor of your choice to the pan, then slowly pour and toss it with the popcorn.  The possibilities are almost endless!

$pend Wisely My Friends...

Enjoy this post?

If you appreciate the article you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or a monthly donation.  Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike

follow me on twitter @Bacheloronthe1

follow me on Pinterest

follow me on Instagram

By Mike Thayer

I am a popcorn fan!  Not only can it be served at a variety of occasions, football tailgate, house party, at the house snacking, an alternative to chips, or enjoying at the movies, popcorn embraces a variety of flavors!

Growing up, my Mom always had the pantry stocked with a box or two of "Chicken in a Biskit" crackers.  I love these things and thankfully they're still available today!  These are no ordinary crackers my friends, not only do you get the crisp from the cracker, that chicken flavoring is addictively good!

So what I've done, is take that Chicken in a Biskit concept and put it in popcorn.

Use a Chicken flavored Ramen packet to flavor your popcorn!

Chicken flavored Ramen seasoning + butter on popcorn = Another Dose of YUM!

Ingredients:

• One cup of un-popped popcorn (I like to use the Salbree popper, it's made for the microwave and does a fantastic job!)
• 2 tabs of unsalted butter
• 1 packet of chicken flavored Ramen seasoning
• A couple shakes of garlic powder
• A couple shakes of onion powder
• Generous shake of Parmesan cheese (Parm pairs really well with the butter and chicken flavor packet)

Directions:

You can easily mimic these great cracker flavors in popcorn!

While the popcorn is popping, melt the butter, adding the chicken flavor packet and other ingredients.  Stir continuously until incorporated.  Pour popped popcorn into a large bowl and top immediately with the melted butter mixture and Parmesan cheese, stir or shake the bowl to incorporate. 

Enjoy for the game, enjoy for movie night, enjoy for whatever!  This recipe kicks popcorn up a notch!

Related: Kicking popcorn up another notch - Duck Sauce Popcorn - Bachelor on the Cheap

Related: Arby's Bronco Berry Sauce & Popcorn - Bachelor on the Cheap

Related: Craving chips but counting carbs? Eat some popcorn.

By Mike Thayer

Use your imagination to create flavor

I love popcorn, I typically pop my own, but I appreciate bagged varieties as well.  And while those bagged options provide a variety of flavors to choose from, I can create those same flavors and a lot more in my kitchen.

Taking advantage of my pantry and fridge, I can create just about any flavor you see on the grocery store shelves.  My go-to however and it's easy-peasy, is to use leftover sauce packets from carry-out and delivery meals.  There's all kinds of flavor options available at the ready, all you have to do is add a packet or two and a pinch of salt to the butter when you're melting it while that popcorn is popping!

The sauce packet options are almost endless and the beauty, it's a perfect measurement.  There's duck sauce from a Chinese restaurant (Awesome!), Arby's Sauce, mustard packets (combined with a packet of honey - Delicious!), sweet and sour sauce, BBQ sauce from Papa John's (BBQ popcorn is excellent).  The melted butter sauce created tossed with the popcorn kicks that popcorn up to gourmet status!   Just about any kind of sauce packet will do, Burger King, KFC, Arby's, Taco Bell, Papa John's, Chinese Take-Out, you name it!

From the fridge, whatever kind of hot sauce you have on hand is a good add to the melting butter.  Frank's Red Hot, Tapatio', Sriracha (Sriracha and Parmesan cheese is a GREAT combo, but sprinkle on the Parm AFTER you sauce the popcorn).  You can go with your favorite bottle BBQ sauce if you don't have a convenient sauce packet.  And if you like dill pickle flavored chips, you'll LOVE dill pickle flavored popcorn, just put a little splash of the pickle juice in the melting butter.  You can do the same thing with some vinegar from the pantry if you're into salt & vinegar chips.  Got some leftover bacon?  Chop it up and add it to the melting butter to warm it through (I've been known to have this for dinner...).

From your seasoning cabinet, use your imagination.  You've probably got onion powder, garlic powder (the onion/garlic combo is really nice), maybe some dried dill, or chili powder on hand.  Combined with that melted butter, any one of those is another dose of YUM!  If you decide to use a seasoning mix like Montreal Steak Seasoning, great, but hold off on the pinch of salt when melting the butter, you don't want to create a salt bomb.  Taco seasoning is another good one, but remember, don't add that pinch of salt.

And you're not limited to the powders, sauce packets from restaurants or bottled sauces you see pictured above to create flavor either.  And no, I'm not talking about the popcorn seasonings you can get at the grocery store.  Go fresh!  Dice up a jalapeno and throw that in the butter when you're melting it.  Bell peppers are a nice add too.  Go herbal and chop up some fresh parsley, dill, thyme and/or rosemary.  Chopped green onion or chives work too, super when tossed with some Parmesan cheese. 

Play with it, mix and match the flavors, find new combinations, have fun making popcorn!

BONUS:  Popping your own corn is SO inexpensive, talk about a cheap snack!  A bag of popcorn at the grocery store will typically cost you $3 and up.  Those bagged varieties are good, but you can purchase a bag of unpopped popcorn for about $3 and make a boatload, flavor it how you want to and it's freshly popped and hot to boot! 

Coming soon:  Dessert popcorn options!

Related: Bachelor on the Cheap - Product Review: The Salbree Popper

Popcorn is a great alternative to chips

By Mike Thayer

I've been on a bit of a popcorn kick lately, making an effort to snack a little healthier and reduce my carb intake.

Popcorn is an excellent way to do that.  The list of ingredients for a quality bag of popped corn for example is:  Popcorn, Sunflower Oil, Salt, vs. what you see on the label for my favorite chip, Nacho Cheese Doritos:  CORN, VEGETABLE OIL (SUNFLOWER, CANOLA, AND/OR CORN OIL), MALTODEXTRIN (MADE FROM CORN), SALT, WHEY, CHEDDAR CHEESE (MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), BUTTERMILK, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, ROMANO CHEESE (COW'S MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), ONION POWDER, CORN FLOUR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, DEXTROSE, TOMATO POWDER, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SPICES, LACTOSE, ARTIFICIAL COLOR (YELLOW 6, YELLOW 5, RED 40), POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM CASEINATE, CITRIC ACID, SUGAR, GARLIC POWDER, RED AND GREEN BELL PEPPER POWDER, SKIM MILK, DISODIUM INOSINATE, AND DISODIUM GUANYLATE.

That pretty much makes the case of a more natural food, vs. a very processed food.  And another thing that makes popcorn a healthier choice is that carb count.  I can eat about 3 cups of popped corn, that's a total of 15 carbs vs. eating about 12 chips and about 18 carbs.

Eating popcorn rather than chips is a no brainer!

So today I'm snacking on Skinny Pop Popcorn.  No flavored variety, I got the original, just a bag of regular popcorn that's been lightly salted and it's delicious!  The kernels are puffy plump, the amount of salt is perfect and I haven't poured an Old Maid into a bowl yet. That's what sets Skinny Pop apart from the lessor brands like Brim's.  Skinny Pop gives you puffy kernels and very minimal if any old maids in every bowl.  A brand like Brim's, not so much...

Costing me $2.89 for a 4.4 ounce bag, I'm giving Skinny Pop Popcorn (Original) 5 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars.  It's a Bachelor on the Cheap wallet friendly snack ($2.89 vs. about $5 for a bag of Doritos) and it's a healthier snack.  This company delivers big kernels, good popcorn crunch, popcorn that's perfectly seasoned. It's most definitely worthy of a repeat buy!  I look forward to trying their flavored varieties.

This is a good bagged popcorn

By Mike Thayer

Popcorn, it's great for movie nights, an after school snack, a chip alternative, a road trip food.  You can cook it on the stove top, microwave it, pop it over a campfire or buy it pre-popped and bagged.

The latter is what I did for this sampling, I picked up a bag of Angie's Boom Chicka Pop White Cheddar Popcorn.

I usually pop my own corn using a Salbree Popper.  Done in the microwave, there's no oil involved, just dump some kernels in the Salbree Popper bowl, microwave on high and about 4 minutes later you've got a big bowl of popcorn at the ready for whatever flavors you want to add to it.

But there are those occasions where bagged corn comes in handy.  It's conveniently grab and go, especially for road trips and the flavor options are almost endless.

Big, puffy kernels

You have to be choosy with bagged corn though, some of what's available on store shelves it is rather "eh", short on flavor and rife with a lot of Old Maids at the bottom of the bag.  Some of that stuff tastes like styrofoam.  Not so with Boom Chicka Pop!  The flavor on this corn is excellent and not artificial.  The kernels puff out nice and big and the white cheddar flavor is pleasantly sharp, it's a great bite.  The brand sticks to real ingredients all of which you can pronounce.  The bag of corn is fresh and the Old Maid factor is almost non-existent.  Of the bagged popcorn I've sampled, this one is top notch.

Bottom of the bag, minimal Old Maid factor

Costing me $2.89 for a 4.5 ounce bag (popcorn is light, that translates to 4.5 servings at 2-1/2 cups each), I'm giving Angie's Boom Chicka Pop White Cheddar Popcorn 5 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars.  It's reasonably priced, has great popcorn crunch and flavor, it's most definitely worthy of a repeat buy!

By Mike Thayer

I am a popcorn fan!  Not only can it be served at a variety of occasions, football tailgate, house party, at the house snacking, an alternative to chips, or enjoying at the movies, popcorn embraces a variety of flavors!

Lately, I've really been into jalapeno flavored hot sauces and incorporating that flavor into a gourmet popcorn is SO easy to do!

If you're sitting down to watch your favorite sporting event, planning a party or just need a change of pace popcorn snack, here's an easy peasy to prepare popcorn recipe for you to try.

Ordinary looking buttered popcorn, but with a Jalapeno hot sauce kick!

Ingredients:

• One cup of un-popped popcorn (I like to use the Salbree popper, it's made for the microwave and does a fantastic job!)
• Two tabs of unsalted butter
• A couple dashes of Jalapeno flavored Hot Sauce
• A pinch of Kosher salt
• A couple shakes of garlic powder
• A couple shakes of onion powder
• Generous shake of Parmesan cheese (Parm pairs really well with the butter and jalapeno)

Directions:

While the popcorn is popping, melt the butter, adding the salt and hot sauce.  Stir continuously until incorporated.  Once the butter gets to melting and is covering the bottom of the pan, add the garlic and onion powder.  Pour popped popcorn into a large bowl and top immediately with the melted butter mixture and Parmesan cheese, stir or shake the bowl to incorporate. 

Enjoy for the game, enjoy for movie night, enjoy for whatever!  This recipe kicks popcorn up a notch!

Related: Kicking popcorn up another notch - Duck Sauce Popcorn - Bachelor on the Cheap

Related: Arby's Bronco Berry Sauce & Popcorn - Bachelor on the Cheap

Related: Craving chips but counting carbs? Eat some popcorn.

By Mike Thayer

OK, so you're counting carbs and you've got a craving for chips, that crunch, but you're tired of pork rinds......  What do you do?

Eat some popcorn.

When I first started counting carbs again, I had almost forgotten how relatively low carb it really is.  At only about 5 grams of carbs per cup, it's WAY better than any kind of chip and very do-able for the diet if you've behaved all day.   Bonus:  Popping your own corn is WAY cheaper than buying bags of chips!

The classic of course is buttered popcorn and a little salt.  That's good, but try this:

Mike's 'Hot Parm Popcorn'

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup popcorn
• 3 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
• Several dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce
• Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

Pop some corn using a microwave popper per instructions.  While that's popping, heat up the butter in a small skillet, along with the Louisiana Hot Sauce and salt.  Pour all that popped popcorn goodness into a large bowl and toss with half the butter, and half the Parmesan cheese.  Repeat for good coverage.  That Parm and hot sauce takes that popcorn up to a whole nuther level!  It's a nuther does of YUM!   It will be tough to eat just one cup of that corn......  

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