Popcorn is the ultimate cinema snack - but we all know it costs a small fortune on top of tickets, drinks and other snacks.
Thankfully these days, cinemas don’t mind you taking in your own supermarket bought popcorn to save a couple of quid.
Although nothing could be more disappointing than ripping open the bag to find flavourless cardboardy popcorn where the kernels all get stuck in your teeth - so I’ve done the hard work for you.
I picked up five bags of popcorn from Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Premier in a bid to discover the best.
I sampled three packets of sweet and salty, with the addition of toffee and salted caramel for film fanatics with a sweet tooth.
So whether you’re planning on watching the latest Spider-Man or Matrix movie, or taking the kids to see Clifford the Big Red Dog - here’s my verdict on the cheap alternatives to cinema popcorn.
5. Snackrite
- Price - 69p
- Star rating - 1
- Shop - Aldi
While this bag of popcorn might have been the best value for money in terms of size in comparison to cost, the flavour of these fell flat for me.
The share bag was around three quarters of the way full, which was nice to see, but they didn’t have that delightful fresh popcorn smell that’s so great about cinema popcorn.
Despite being sweet and salty, I didn’t get much differentiation between the pieces, and they lacked flavour as well as having that polystyrene kind of texture, making them quite hard work to eat.
4. Happy Shopper
- Price - 65p or two for £1
- Star rating - 3
- Shop - Premier
I like that the offer on these gave you the option to get two for £1, meaning you could get salted, sweet, or a combination of both.
These had a much more golden colour to them compared to the pale Snackrite, but also lacked that wonderful popped corn smell.
However, they did pack a crunch, but still lacked the flavour I was looking for in a mixed bag of salty and sweet snacks.
3. Butterkist
- Price - £1.80
- Star rating - 4
- Shop - Tesco
Butterkist is a really iconic brand name when it comes to popcorn - they’re what Heinz is to tomato ketchup.
Their toffee popcorn is really heavy, despite its smaller bag, and was the most expensive packet of the bunch.
What I love about Butterkist is that their popcorn is really uniform, always perfectly round and coated in a layer of delicious toffee which melts in the mouth as you bite down.
There’s nothing not to love about Butterkist, but their prices could be off putting when there are cheaper options on the market.
2. The Foodie Market
- Price - 55p
- Star rating - 4
- Shop - Aldi
I spied this popcorn while I was at the tills paying for the Snackrite popcorn, and I’m so glad I spotted it.
Priced at just 55p, this is the cheapest bag on the list, but is also the smallest.
They had sweet, salty, sweet and salty, as well as the more unusual combo of coconut and vanilla - but I went for the salted caramel.
The Aldi snack had great flavour and a clear distinction between the sweetness of the caramel, and the salt to cut through it.
Though small, the bag was well filled and could be the perfect size for one person in the cinema, as there’s always tonnes left over when you go large.
1. Proper Corn
- Price - £1
- Star rating - 5
- Shop - Sainsbury’s
As soon as I opened the bag of Proper’s sweet and salty popcorn, the smell of the cinema wafted through my living room - this is what I’d been looking for.
The kernels were popped to golden perfection, offering a range of shapes and sizes, rather than perfect round balls.
After a few pieces, it was easy to tell there was a balance between the sweet and saltiness, with the two flavours coming through, neither overpowering the other.
It had the crunch, the perfect texture, and no pesky unpopped kernels getting stuck in my teeth.
If I was planning a trip to the cinema, this is definitely the bag I would buy.
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