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The Spicy Queso flavor is pretty good!

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Back in April, I reviewed PopCorners Sea Salt Popped Corn Snack.  I gave them 3 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap Stars, stating it was too early to say they were a repeat buy, I wanted to check out the other flavors first.  The Sea Salt flavor is a bit bland.

So, in my continued pursuit of a healthier chip snack and as promised, today I'm reviewing PopCorners Spicy Queso flavor.

This is popped corn, shaped into a chip, and the spicy queso flavor is quite tasty.  You get a pleasant little spice kick, there's a good crunch factor, and the 'chips' hold up to salsa and dips well.  The Sea Salt flavor came off as a bit 'styrofoamy' in texture, these, do not.  I don't know if the recipe has been improved since the April sample, or perhaps the pleasant spicy queso flavor makes it easy to overlook any flaws in the texture.  

Good size chips, minimal breakage in the bag.

In a healthier chip snack comparison, this per-serving variety of PopCorners contains 20 grams of carbs, 0.5 grams of fat, 180 grams of sodium, 2 grams of protein, 130 calories, and NO artificial flavoring..  In contrast, a serving of Nacho Cheese Doritos contains 18 grams of carbs, 8 grams of fat, 210 grams of sodium, 2 grams of protein, and 150 calories along with that boatload of artificial flavors and coloring.

No chip snack is a nutritional-savvy thing to do, but PopCorners are never fried, contain less fat as a result, and can satisfy biting down on something crunchy.

Costing me $13.99 for a 30-count box of 1-ounce snack bags, I'm giving PopCorners Spicy Queso Popped Corn Snack 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap Stars.  The per-bag cost breaks down to just $0.47 each.  I like the Spicy Queso flavor, it's MUCH better than the Sea Salt variety (not as healthy though, but much tastier), and is worthy of a repeat buy.  I'm looking forward to trying the White Cheddar and Kettle Corn flavors also in the box.

Available at Costco and other retailers

$pend Wisely My Friends...

~ Mike

Related: Snack Review: PopCorners Sea Salt Popped Corn Snack

BachelorontheCheap.com

Popcorn has become a top snack for me, especially now that I'm trying to stay gluten-free with my diet.

I've been popping my own corn since trying to focus on GF, but today I picked up a bag of Clancy's Roasted Sweet Corn Flavored Popcorn to sample and review.

As an Iowa native and lover and griller of sweet corn, the package touting "Roasted Sweet Corn" caught my eye when shopping this morning at Aldi.  A plus, it's gluten-free.  Yes, popcorn is naturally gluten-free, it's not wheat, but you do have to be careful with a lot of products, especially snack foods.  Even though a food product may be naturally gluten-free, in this case, popcorn, how it gets seasoned and otherwise flavored during the processing can turn into something that's not gluten-free.  Always read the label.

If you're not familiar with the Clancy's brand, it's an Aldi private label, offering a full line of snack foods with over 40 varieties to choose from.  The brand is kind of hit-and-miss though.  Some of their snacks are quite tasty, others, not so much.   For example, while their regular classic potato chips are good and in my book a smarter buy than over-priced classic Lay's, I've found their stackable chips, a.k.a., "crisps" to be greasy and not a good alternative to Pringles.

Nice, big kernels in the pop, minimal old maids

In sampling that first mouthful of the Roasted Sweet Corn Flavored Popcorn, I was immediately hit with the butter flavor.  But it's butter-forward and much sweeter than I had anticipated.  Yes, corn on the cob does have a sweetness to it, especially when caramelized, but this popcorn is sweet butter-forward, and the roasted notes are far too subtle.  There is a nice popcorn crunch, it's air-popped and there's no greasy aftertaste, but the roasted flavor is overpowered by the sweet butter.   There was a minimal amount of old maids in the bottom of the bag and popped kernel breakage was negligible.  Overall, I was disappointed by this effort from Clancy's, it's a miss.

Costing me $2.49 for a 6-ounce bag at Aldi, I'm giving Clancy's Roasted Sweet Corn Flavored Popcorn 3 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap Stars.  It's a novelty flavor, but it needs a more savory, roasted flavor to be worthy of a repeat buy.  As it is, it's too sweet and butter-forward.

$pend Wisely My Friends...

~ Mike

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...

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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

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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!