I feel I should mention that the popcorn butter flavoring poses little risk to the end user. It's the people who work in the popcorn factory that end up getting cancer and having birth defects from it. It's still not the best thing to eat it, and you should probably cut back for the sake for the employees. But you also shouldn't go out and get tested for popcorn lung if you eat a ton of the stuff.

Love them.
Probably the only reason I ever got microwave.

(In my part of the world, it isn't that popular)

Wow.

How about putting some organic popcorn and non-gmo oil in a pot and heat it on the stove. Throw some organic butter and natural salt in there at the same time, or afterwards if you like.

No bag, no microwave, no land fill.

Bulk organic popcorn is about a buck per pound, give or take a dime.

Be sure to recycle/dispose of your microwave properly, they are a hazardous waste.

Our you can just use a popcorn maker. I haven't seen one of those in a while.

I'm with Tim, a pot, organic pop-corn, olive oil, salt. and voila! No need rocket science to make popcorns..

Making traditional popcorn is messy, and it's easy to burn yourself since oil is boiling...

I've been doing this for about a year now and it tastes FAR better than store bought microwave popcorn (healthier too), but you don't need to use butter or oil in the bag. That way you can reuse the bag 10+ times without having to throw it away. Melt the butter in a mug or a glass measuring cup in the microwave and pour it on the popcorn in a bowl.

Making popcorn in a pot is incredibly easy. Just don't turn the heat up all the way -- it will smoke too much.

It is NOT messy (unless you're very sloppy and in that case have a friend help)..

You will NOT burn yourself with oil (again, unless you're very sloppy and in that case have a friend help).

Add sugar -- preferably powdered/confectioner's/icing sugar -- for homemade caramel corn, but be prepared for a harder pot cleaning job.

And remember popcorn can be flavored with more things than just butter and salt.

I have been doing this for thirty years. Bought one bunch of 50 lunch bags, reuse them about 30 times each and just ran out this year. I use olive oil, not butter and lvery lightly season with a tiny bit of salt, a half pinch of rground red pepper or ginger or cinnamon or snipped fresh green herbs, all kinds of stuff you might not think of like turmeric, paprika, cumin and cilantro. Great with beer and lime mexican style. Yum yum. Get the popcorn at the co op for under a dollar a lb.

My grandfather had a big black iron basket that he shook over an open fire in the den for us. My iron kettle on the stove will work, but have to shake it now and then to keep from burning or sticking and don't need that much unless making popcorn balls for Halloween or some such. The bag is just right for a single serving. and don't have to shake it.

I found a great stove top popcorn recipe recently. It pops popcorn as fast as the microwave can, nothing burns, and nearly everything pops (I get 1 or 2 unpopped kerne per batch):

*Perfect Popcorn from Simply Recipes*

Our family has been using the old fashioned "whirley " pop stovetop method for years. It always makes delicous popcorn, and it's fun too! When the kids' friends come over they always ask to make popcorn.
If you find a Whirley Pop popper at a thrift store snap it up, and if you have $25 or so they are sold at many online retailers and worth every penny.

It's just convenient to do it in the microwave. Get a recyclable bag, put kernals in, pop it. Afterwards add toppings. I beleive it is quicker to if you just want plain popcorn. Also it's quicker if you have electric stoves. Don't worry about the microwave zapping the nutrients out of the popcorn. It has no nutrients to begin with!

Since I find the microwave easily burns the popcorn, with a little practice I got it right using the stovetop method. I use a domed-lid, stainless-steel frying pan WITHOUT those ugly non-stick coatings that chip off into the food.

I seasoned the pan and it makes fabulous popcorn as well as pancakes or omelettes that slide easily onto a plate.

The trick is to use medium heat and a splash of olive oi, shaking it periodically. When the popping slows down to next to nothing, it is important to get it quickly into a bowl -- glass and stainless steel are best -- so the popcorn does not burn.

Then, you can sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes, some freshly ground or powdered herbs or spices and just a little shake of salt. If you like butter, melt some using the leftover heat from the stove in a small steel pot and drizzle over the popcorn.

Enjoy!

If you love cheese popcorn, a little butter (or not) and lots of nutritional yeast and some pink salt, it's pure heaven!

I recently went looking all over for an air popper that didn't have incredibly mixed reviews. If it wasn't 1 person complaining about Teflon coming off, it was someone else complaining about the plastic melting, having to buy some sort of replacement cartridges every 24 pops, or having kernels shoot all over the kitchen instead of the bowl (which is what my melted air popper did, incidentally).

Then I found this post and a variety of plastic containers that you can microwave to pop the corn. I hate microwaving things in plastic - I'm paranoid about releasing chemicals into my food. So I decided to perform an experiment and put a bunch of kernels into an ovenware glass bowl with glass lid and microwave it. Voila! Instant popcorn and no bag or anything else to worry about. I tried with a little bit of butter in the bowl too and it worked out wonderfully. I had to experiment with my microwave to find the best time for popping the kernels - probably somewhere between 3-4 minutes for mine. Keep in mind, the bowl will be REALLY hot when you take it out, so be careful. And PLEASE, if there's some horrible safety issue I'm ignoring, post it here. So far, I can't think of anything.

Great post. I have been poping popcorn on the stove for over 20 years. My favorite is cheese popcorn.
Basically, an important thing to keep in mind is that when pouring the oil into the pot that you use only enough to coat the bottom of the pot. While heating the oil, first place 3 kernels in the pot (a point I learned from the jar of Orville Redenbacher) and do not add the remaining popcorn (enough to cover the bottom of the pot) until the first kernels pop. When adding the oil, for variety you can add hotsause/Tabasco and a bit of liquid smoke. After the popcorn has popped, pour it into a bowl. The pot will still be quite hot, so you can melt the butter. Drizzle it on, and then take half of a cheese pack from a macaroni and cheese box and sprinkle it on. Yum-Yum!

I like the old school type popcorn, in a pot on the stove. Thanks all for their info on how to do it.

Popcorn has become a mainstay for me-- I pop some at least once or twice a week. Having tried lots of oils, I definitely recommend NOT using olive oil, which is not stable at high heat, and tends to leave an intrusive flavor. My best results have come from using grapeseed & peanut oil. Favorite way to eat it: salt & lots of black pepper!