These are sold at Dollar Tree as 3 pack of Plastic Snack Containers with Lock-Top Lids. I haven't actually used them for that purpose though. I think they wouldn't be so great as a snack container because if you want to fill them up completely, when you open them up, it's possible that some of your snack will come spilling out of it, due to the way that the lid makes up about the top 1/3 of the container.
What I use them for, so far, are storage boxes, mostly for tiny electronic items, such as batteries, memory cards, and cables.
As you can see, they can fit quite a bit of stuff in them. I'd probably be able to fit in more memory cards if I took each card out of their individual cases, but since I don't actually have many more than that and they still fit inside, I kept them in their cases. In total, there are 10 memory cards/adapters of various sizes, two micro SD card readers, and one USB wifi adapter. The one in the middle has 10 AA and 2 AAA batteries, with room for a little bit more. The one on the right has a USB power bank, a USB car charger, 1 micro USB cable, and 2 lightning cables.
There were 3 packs of 3 at the time I bought these, but I only bought 2 of them since I didn't know how many I'd need or what they might be good for. I haven't seen them in the store since then, so maybe I should've bought them all because I have plenty more cables to store.
If you're actually looking for something that'd be good as a snack container, I'd probably get these instead because of their flip top lids. I've only seen them in store with Disney's Frozen characters on them and none of the plain ones. They're also only sold individually, so $1 each. If I could find the 2 packs of those in stores, I'd probably at least pick up one of them because they seem like they'd be perfect for snacking.
We haven't bought microwave bagged popcorn in a long time because I live with someone who can't have all the oils and other GMOs that the individual microwave bags of popcorn contain. So, I figured I'd search for an air popper.
Since I couldn't wait, even for 2-day Amazon Prime delivery, I headed off to Target to see if they had it in stock. There was only one on the shelf and it happened to be the red version of the product, which for some reason sells for $2.95 more on Amazon. It was $8.99 in store at Target. I also got a 50 oz package of Pop Secret Jumbo Popping Corn kernels for $5.99 - I'm not sure if that's the best price for it, but I didn't feel like going to another store just to get kernels. In the future, when I empty out this jar, I'll probably try to get bulk kernels from a store like Sprouts or Trader Joes - I'm not sure how much that costs, but probably a lot less per ounce.
After cleaning and drying it initially, I gave it a go. The video above says to use 1/2 cup of kernels, but that seems like waaaay too much. You'd probably end up with more burnt popcorn while waiting for all of it to pop. For my first try, I figured I'd pop it without any oil. The directions that come with it say to use 1/3 cup of kernels. So, that's how much I used. And per Bob's review on Amazon, I made sure to stop it early so that nothing would burn.
My first try, I let it pop for about 2 minutes and 40 seconds before I stopped it. That left about half of the kernels unpopped though. Nothing burned, so better safe than sorry. And despite the warning not to put the unpopped kernels back into the microwave, I did so anyway... and they popped! I still had some unpopped kernels left after waiting for the 1-2 seconds between pops. I did try to pop those as well, but ended up burning them that they left some scorch marks in the bottom of the bowl. Those marks are now permanently there since there doesn't seem to be any way to get them out.
For my next batch, I used about a teaspoon of canola oil and mixed 1/3 cup of kernels until they were all covered. I really didn't notice a difference in taste between oil and no oil. I guess the only difference with using oil is that salt will stick better to it, so I did add a little bit of salt to it.
The next few days that I used the popcorn popper, I decided to experiment with seasonings and also different amounts of kernels. It seems around 1/4 cup or less is a good amount and I'll repop the unpopped kernels if there are more than 10 left in the bowl. Some things I've tried to use to add flavor:
BBQ spice rub - this probably works best on meats that are going to be cooked, but still tasted alright on my popcorn
peanut butter & Nutella - this mixture didn't melt how I hoped it would, so it was more in clumps than something I was just able to drizzle onto my popcorn, but omfg, it was still soooo good. I couldn't even wait for it to harden/set before eating it
canned grated parmesan cheese - I didn't use any butter or oil, so the cheese didn't really stick, so it mostly tasted plain with hints of cheese
after the pb & Nutella didn't turn out how I'd like it, I thought I'd try something that I use with oatmeal - a mixture of cocoa powder and sugar. I added a tiny bit of milk so that maybe it would help it stick to the popcorn, but it just made everything soggy
a mix of Sriracha and salsa verde & melted butter - the taste was great, but again... soggy popcorn
I still pretty much fail at seasoning it well. I might have to invest in a spritzer to spray oil onto it so that my popped popcorn doesn't get soggy. I hate soggy popcorn, so I've just gone on eating it plain after failed attempts at seasoning. It's really not so bad when it's plain either.
Overall, I'll definitely be getting a lot of use out of this microwave popcorn popper. I'm glad I spent the 9 bucks plus tax for it. I've read about the paper bag method and thought about trying that, but didn't want to have to keep rebuying paper lunch bags (since we don't buy them anymore anyway). I figured $9 one time instead of buying paper bags every time would save me more money in the long run, assuming this popper lasts for a long time.
If anyone has any tips for seasoning without popcorn getting soggy, or if you have anything that you absolutely love seasoning your popcorn with, leave a comment and I'll definitely give your suggestions a try!
