if i'm air-popping my own popcorn...

do i need to use any butter or oil, or can i just use plain kernels?

When I make my own popcorn I just put some kernels in a brown paper lunch sack and microwave.  It comes out SO yummy =)

I don't know how you're cooking it -- but you don't need oil or anything if you do it that way!

really? sick, thanks!

right now i buy an organic, natural-flavoured brand of popcorn, but they use oil so i was thinking of starting to pop my own.

it's good to know that i don't have to go out and buy (aka beg my mom to buy) an expensive popcorn-popper or whatever those things are.

ugh, now i'm craving popcorn but it's 2 am so i think i'll skip it haha. c:

Haha yeah...I was pretty excited to find that it worked out ok like that!  The only thing is, it was so easy and low cal I think I was eating a little too much popcorn there for a while =P

It's a super cheap snack though...Especially if you just buy plain kernels from the bulk bins!  And uhh...maybe I'm just a serious penny-pincher but you can re-use the paper bags too since you don't have to use oil! 

Not too shabby for the environment either! haha

popcorn popping is so loud, my microwave is even louder, and my mom tends to be kind of intrusive when it comes to my eating. i get tired of "what are you eating? why are you eating? should you be eating that?" so i don't make it that often. :(

Ah yeah I deal with that too.  It gets SO annoying!  Every time I'm in the kitchen my mom comes in and looks over my shoulder and I get, "Why are you eating that?  What does that do for you? What benefits does that give?  Isn't that a little too much/too little?  Isn't it a little late to be eating?"

She always tells me to eat more but when I try everyone comments on how much I'm eating.  BAH I hate it!  It ends up making me feel like I shouldn't eat around them, so I don't eat much during the day then eat A TON at night.  I'm working on getting past that though =\

Anywho, sorry for takin your post off topic!!! =P haha

Edit to add: I usually waited til my mom wasn't home to make popcorn (like I do with a lot of my eating), but popcorn is one of those things that you can smell in the house even hours after it's been cooked!

this may be exposing my age but when microwaves were first being sold to the general public, microwaving popcorn in lunch bags was a big fad.  We did it for entertainment!! 

You have to understand that before, popcorn was popped on the stovetop with oil or in those bubble poppers with butter melters in them.  It was a project. 

But Microwave popcorn was fast and it was cool to watch the bag grow. 

Whoa. back up! I can just throw some kernels in a paper bag, put it in the microwave a cook?? Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?

So what, put like a half cup of kernels in the bag, flatter it (?), fold over the top a couple times and cook for a couple minutes on high. Or ...?

I haven't done it yet but I've been recommended to use 1/4 cup!

I can't remember how many kernels  I want to say 1 cup but that sounds too much.  and it was 3 minutes.

I had no idea you could do this. cool.

How exactly do you flatter the bag? lol Do you tell it it looks thin today? Then, do you laugh at it when it gets fat? lol

Ok here's step by step what I do =P

*Measure out 1/4 cup kernels (any more than that and the bag won't hold it all once it's popped!)
*Pour it in the bag
*Tip the bag on its side and flatten it like they have paper bags folded at the grocery store (you know what I mean?? haha)
*Fold the top down 2 times, but make very small folds so there's lots of room for popcorn to pop
*Shake the bag from side to side a little to spread out the kernels (otherwise they all gather at the bottom and some won't pop while others will burn!)
*Put it in the microwave and WATCH IT! because sometimes that popcorn is smart enough to open the bag =P

Have fun!

"smart enough to open the bag". lol :)

I just dump enough kernels in the bottom of a regular brown paper lunch bag to cover the bottom (a big handful), then I fold the top over one fold and put the bag in the microwave straight up (I don't flatten it or turn it sideways). 

I tell you this not to discourage anyone from flattening the bag, but to let you  know that it seems it works any 'ole way.  It is quite amazing that it really is this easy.

I then pop it for 3 minutes (microwave oven times can vary, so just listen to the popping sound and as it gets slower and slower it will be ready to take out of the oven).

This is one of those things that when you find out about it, you think "why the heck didn't somebody tell me this before now??"

I just turn it on its side because, in my experience, with my microwave, when I leave it standing up not all of the kernels pop because heat isn't distributed evenly OR they pop at such different times that the first kernels get burnt while waiting for the others to pop.

But then my microwave is pretty odd =P

I had a popcorn maker (shaped like a duck, corn comes out of its mouth - classic) but when it started making whirring noises and smoking I had to throw it out. Without enough cash to replace it I went for the microwave option. Had to wait for a cosmetics order to come through before I could start (they deliver in paper bags - hehe) and then threw in a handful of corn, folded down the opening and 2 minutes of intense popping later - hey presto. popcorn. yes, it is quick, no fuss, no mess - but the popcorn just isn't as nice. it has a bit of a brittle texture to it that you don't get with an air popper machine. it kind of crumbles. it is only a slight difference really but i did notice it. i guess thats because in an air popper as soon as the corn is popped it is pushed out of the machine and no longer being heated but in the mircowave it is still cooking. still, i did the mircowave thing for quite a while and it was fine. But now I have a new air popper machine (not duck shaped this time unfortunately) and am looking forward to a higher quality of corn. lol.