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Homemade Microwave Popcorn & A Family Movie Night with Walmart Family Mobile & Vudu

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #DataAndAMovie #CollectiveBias The Microwave popcorn recipe is on us :)

Nothing really beats a family movie night. (O.K. I’ll be honest. In our case this usually mean family movie afternoons, since I work nights and am rarely home once it gets dark out. But I digress.) And Movie night calls for movie snacks, like popcorn. Microwave popcorn. No, not the stuff you buy in the store, the kind you make yourself, from fresh ingredients in your own home. Like the Homemade Parmesan microwave popcorn that we made the other day while catching a movie on Vudu.

Why Vudu? Because we get a free movie rental every month thanks to the Walmart Family Mobile Plus Plan. But there’s a little bit of a story behind that.

My wife’s old phone was dying. This happens often with her electronics, actually. She’s pretty rough on them. But to say this thing was a clunker from the beginning wouldn’t be an exaggeration. She, as a frugal individual, was just dealing with the issues, but I was getting frustrated with the situation.

My wife relies on her phone more than most people. For a variety of health reasons, the alarms and calendar on her smartphone are her lifeline. The thought of her current phone simply failing one day was something I wasn’t comfortable with.

The Setup

To correct the situation, I hopped online and ordered a new Walmart Family Plan phone. I didn’t tell her about it, but I knew we had a shopping trip that day, so I set it up for in-store pickup. Once we got to Walmart, I took a little detour and picked up the package I’d already paid for. (Convenient! And a little sneaky.)

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Of course, since I’d been sneaky about it, and was in a bit of a rush, I’d forgotten to order the Starter Kit required to activate the phone. So while she and my son headed off to the crafts section, I detoured around to electronics to pick one up. It only took a second to find what I was looking for.

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Sweet side note: The Starter Kit is currently on Rollback for just $19.88. That means you can get started on any one of the Walmart Family Mobile Plans for under 20 bucks for the first month of service!

The phone choices on the Walmart Family Plan are pretty good, but I opted for the less expensive Coolpad Rogue for several reasons. First, as I said, my wife is rough on her electronics and this little beast, while capable, is easily replaceable at a meager $19.88 (on Rollback from $39.83… Not Bad!). But it does have all the bells and whistles she needs to keep her on track and up to date. Including 4 GB of onboard memory, android Lollipop, and 4G data for those times when WiFi isn’t available. And Since the Walmart Family Mobile plan includes Unlimited Talk, Text and Data with 10GB of 4G LTE Data per month, she’ll have plenty of data access on her way to and from school. Not to mention, $49.88 is a lot less than we were paying for her last data plan.

  • Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to http://cbi.as/3edbs or your local Walmart for current pricing.

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She was surprised!

I had the phone activated in electronics and went to meet my wife and kiddo, who were shopping for surprise props for Uncle Jerry’s Kitchen. (I love my family!) My wife was thrilled to have a phone that fit her tiny hands, and that actually worked as expected. (Trust me, her old phone was not good. Not good at all.) We called it a day and headed home.

It was a Friday, so I had to be at work the next day and was in serious need of some downtime.

We decided to catch a movie together, and since the Walmart Family plus plan offers one free New Release Movie Rental per month through Vudu, we fired up Chromecast from her phone and got busy choosing what to watch.

Since a movie requires popcorn, I headed to the kitchen to whip up a batch.

And now to the Microwave Popcorn

I know it’s easy to grab a bag of store-bought microwave popcorn and toss it in for a spin in the nuker, but I’m not a fan of the ingredients in a lot of these products. But the thing is, making your own microwave popcorn is just as simple as using store-bought, and you don’t even have to open a plastic bag.

Just grab a brown paper lunch sack and 1/3 cup popcorn kernels. Toss in a pinch of salt, and you’re good to go. I like to add a little Parmesan cheese at the end, just to really boost the flavor, but if you’re into butter, just melt a little and toss it in a bowl at the end.

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Fold the bag over a few times to seal it, then toss it in the microwave.

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About 2 1/2 minutes later, you’ll have yourself a bag of fresh, homemade popcorn, already salted and ready to eat. At this point I pour the cheese in the bag and shake the heck out of it so that everything is evenly coated. No need to dirty anything else up. You’re done.

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The full Homemade Microwave Popcorn Recipe:

Microwave popcorn and movie night
Yield: 1 serving

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 3 minutes

Microwave popcorn doesn't have to be from a store-bought package. Use your own ingredients and flavorings and make this healthier version in minutes, without the guilt!

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place popcorn kernels and a good pinch of salt in a sandwich sized brown paper bag.
  2. Fold the top of the bag a few times to seal.
  3. Microwave on high for about 2 1/2 minutes, or until the kernels pop more than 3 seconds apart
  4. (Optional) Open bag immediately (Careful, it's hot!) Sprinkle in parmesan cheese , reseal the bag and shake vigorously to coat.
  5. Share and Enjoy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 65Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 818mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 4g

All that was left was to pick the movie. And thanks to Chromecast, the phone is our remote, too. We opted for a new release that we’d been debating, but hadn’t been committed enough to rent yet. Hey, it’s a perk. We rolled with it.

Microwave popcorn and movie night

What do you think?

Have you considered using any of the Walmart Family Mobile plans. Would they save you money vs. the plan you’re currently on? And have you tried homemade microwave popcorn yet?

For more information on the Walmart Family Mobile Plans available in your area, click here.

Let us know if you tried the popcorn in the comments or on Facebook. We’d love to hear about it!

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