Reddit reviews Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Popper, Yellow

We use this air popper and bulk Amish kernels. No oil, and the resulting popcorn is fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA

Highly recommended if you enjoy popcorn.

$20

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395009059&sr=8-1&keywords=air+popper

Don't cut open a can. That shit's sharp.

BUY AN AIR POPPER!!!

I can't recommend this highly enough. It's nothing short of amazing. Fast, easy, no clean-up, no oil, no un-popped kernels, and so so cheap. I bought like 5 pounds of kernels for about $3. That will make like 50 big bowls of popcorn.

http://smile.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Hot-Popper/dp/B00006IUWA

that's the one I got

I got an this air popper from amazon. Its $20, doesn't need any oil and is idiot-proof. Literally just put in the kernels, plug it in and you'll get perfect popcorn (no burning, virtually no kernels un-popped)

Popcorn Popper.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369064655&sr=8-1&keywords=popcorn+popper

Roasts by the 1/2-cup and great for learning. Run it with beans for about 5-8 minutes at a time, and make sure you listen for the cracks.

It's not as large or fancy as the other suggestions in the thread, but it's also not $300.

EDIT: It's also really simple to repair and modify. I've taken out the temperature governor and installed a thermometer.

If price is the biggest factor, and he doesn't mind a hands-on approach, buy green beans + a popcorn popper and have him roast his own beans. It's a very easy way to roast and will taste better than Starbucks beans with a little effort. It also comes out to about ~$6/lb of coffee after you buy the popper.


Other options roasted beans:

• Happy Mug Coffee ~$11/lb, freshly roasted
  
  
• SW Roasting ~$14/lb, freshly roasted, members of /r/coffee
  
  
• Costco Coffee ~$7.5/lb but YMMV, not freshly roasted however but some have said it's decent quality
  
  Keep in mind that different blends/origins will affect price of the beans. If you need help with suggestions, feel free to ask!

They make electric popcorn poppers, called air poppers. Like this one

Not OP but I will give you a couple of mine

Boiled potatoes
Popcorn - My wife bought this. Then she puts coconut oil and TJ vegan butter on it. I've never cared for pop corn until she started making it like that.
Chips and salsa and/or hummus - I like to do a chip in spicy salsa then the next chip in hummus for the compliment.
Chips and Guac - if making guac isnt considered cooking
Pasta and marinara
Trader Joe's Spring Rolls - Just bake

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA

Way cheaper and healthier, too.

I think you need to make your own popcorn with a popcorn popper. Imagine the warm, buttery, salty goodness of fresh popped popcorn 😀

If you make much popcorn at all get a popcorn machine. They are small, you save money as popcorn kernels are ridiculously cheap, and it tastes way better.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=lp_1090764_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1406771454&sr=1-1

Is this the one you purchased?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00006IUWA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1425169593&sr=8-1&keywords=air+popper+popcorn+maker&dpPl=1&dpID=31OAC-ca0pL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

I think it is pretty close to this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IUWA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have been using that for 5 years to roast. A minor mod that I did was open it up and twist the bimetal overtemp protection closed so I could roast as many batches as I want in succession. Works great. Just don't rely on the air pushing up to circulate the beans. I use a shaking motion to rotate the beans around and you can roast up to 1/3 lb with this.

Presto on Amazon $23 prime eligible

I really want this for my daughter. She LOVES popcorn....so do I ! Thank you so much for the contest, I hope you become a ps pro today lol

It's my gf's, and she's at college right now, so I'm not sure of the exact model or brand. But it looks like this. Yellow rim, clearish plastic lid with a tray for heating up butter or oil while the popcorn pops. I'll ask her tomorrow for a specific brand.

You can roast your own pretty easily and cheaply. I bought a 5 lb bag of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe green coffee beans from Etsy for $30 shipped and then I bought this hot air popcorn popper. Put a scoop of beans into the popper, place a bowl under the shoot to collect the chaff so it doesn't go everywhere, angle the popper so the chaff shoots out but the beans stay in, and plug it in. Roast to desired doneness then pour the beans in a mesh colander and shake it until it cools. Let it sit for a few days and then you can grind and drink.

It's really simple and once you've done it a few times you get the hang of it. Just watch a few videos first. Roasting it myself has yielded the best coffee I've ever tasted at roughly the same cost as the cheaper brands.

Go for it.

I'm using the standard air popper set up, works great.

Just pour the beans in, tip it back a bit, turn on the popper, and starting checking the color after the first audible crack (~3-5minutes). When the roast is just before where you want it, turn the popper off and dump the beans into a pan.

There's a bit of smoke and chaff involved, so do the roasting outside or at least pointing out a window.

You save money, time (I buy my green beans in bulk from sweet maria's so I never have to make weekly bean runs again), and you get some truly incredible coffee.

I'm no professional. However if you can't do much at the moment. Try going on a walk for a bit. Maybe 10-30 minutes in the beginning. Try and do it mutiple days a week. Once you start getting use to it increase the time a little or jog for part of the walk. If it's an option listen to music. I know walking may not seem like much. But it's best to start small and build up the habbit. As for getting healthier food. Identify what is actually bad. Saturted fat and transfat are pretty bad. Not all fats are bad. Try and decrease the amount of salt and sugar you have. A cheap snack option is plain popcorn. It's around 20 dollars. And the kernals themselves are pretty cheap per bag. If it's to plain add a little bit of butter and salt.

The best way to make popcorn is with oil. You can use a covered pot you shake, or better yet something like a Whirley Pop. Unfortunately, using a tablespoon or two of oil doesn't exactly make it a low-calorie snack you want to eat regularly on a reduced intake.

The lowest-calorie method is to use an air popper, then apply a measured amount of whatever toppings or seasonings you prefer. My go-to recipe is to weigh out 20 g of popped popcorn, then carefully apply 3 g of melted butter, stirring constantly to distribute it well. I then sprinkle on sea salt that was ground to a fine powder. This gives a nice 100 calorie snack with just enough buttery flavour to be satisfying.

Unless you are specifically using large crystal salt for the crunchy texture, you probably want to use fine "popcorn salt" to avoid the gritty feeling of regular table salt. You can buy this pre-made, or grind it at home in a blade grinder or mortar and pestle. It has the side benefit that you use less salt because there is more exposed surface area.

There are many, many ways to season popcorn. Sriracha is pretty popular, but you can also use any combination of spices and herbs, or even stuff like nutritional yeast. You will probably get some great suggestions here, but a quick Google will get you a tonne of recipes you can modify to your heart's content.

You need a popping machine :)

It's special purpose hair dryer that's fun to watch in action. It's easy and doesn't make a mess.

I have an Air Popper so I just pop it myself. I have this one. It's only $20. You can get a big box of kernels for like $5 at a grocery store and you really only need 1 or 2 tablespoons of kernels to make a nice big batch of popcorn.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA

I'm a big cast iron cooker, and I still screw up popping kernels. This $20 air popper is a great timesaver.

Air-popper. This brand: http://www.amazon.com/Presto-114316-04820-PopLite-Popper/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311275338&sr=8-1

Seriously makes delicious popcorn, pays itself off over time, and is faster than the microwave.

For popcorn, do yourself a favour with the trip-down-memory-lane-and-yet-still-is-pulling-in-amazing-reviews purchase of this popper. Bought the exact model and it's superb.

I don't use butter, but squirt grapeseed oil on the popcorn as it flows out, while crushing fresh salt on it. Movie time, baby. Movie time!

I use an air popper similar to this one. You can dress up the popcorn however you like afterwards or eat it plain. I use flavoring salts and you can make them yourself if you want, this site has some recipes.

The only issue that I have is getting the salts to stick well to the popcorn, but I hardly use any oil/butter. I usually spray some oil on the popcorn and then dust the seasonings on.

we have this: https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Hot-Popper/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1484182397&sr=1-5&keywords=popcorn+air+popper and absolutely love it

use a 'Whirly Pop'

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004SU35/fremystra-20/ref=nosim

or Air popper

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006IUWA/fremystra-20/ref=nosim

You buy the bags of dry kernels, pour into the air popper. A few minutes later, every single kernel is perfectly popped.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00006IUWA/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1342491961&sr=8-1

This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00006IUWA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484497009&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=air+popper+popcorn+maker&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZoUbPF1%2BL&ref=plSrch
And it works like a champ!

Pretty sure it is this one

And for those of you who see time as money: this popcorn maker is a good investment. Occasionally it will go on sale for $10 (which is how much I paid for mine). It's nice because you can basically put the popcorn in, go do something else, and just listen.


I completely agree with OP, popcorn is the best frugal snack ever. You can pay $3 for a bag of potato chips or you can pay $2 for a huge bag of popcorn kernels that, when popped, basically equals... Idk, like 25 bags of chips? Just add butter and salt (or whatever seasoning you like, but with an air popper you can't use oil, so I like to melt a bit of butter for mine), and it's a great snack! (Not to mention a much healthier alternative to chips).

Nope. I paid less for my entire setup than what I normally spent on movie tickets (at the time).

Projectors can last a very long time. To give you an idea, I bought my HD projector at a Circuit City before it went bankrupt, about 9 years ago. All you need is a wall that's big enough for the image. I don't need a custom dedicated home theater. A normal living room, bedroom or den is fine. I also got a portable projector with built-in DVD, an Epson Moviemate, on sale for under $600.

Presto Air popper for $22.45. I got 2 Primo Flavorstation carbonators for about $25/each on clearance at a Big Lots.

When you add up the cost of tickets, popcorn, soda, etc., you'll be surprised how quickly it will buy everything needed to equip your own affordable home theater experience. You want great sound for cheap? The Logitech THX rated gear is a great value.

These popcorn poppers are amazing!! You can even buy the oil/ butter flavor stuff! I use a ton of regular butter because IDGAF and it's delicious but for me, this whole set up is better than movie theater popcorn. Just sayin!

> I try to avoid nuts given the high calorie content (not great for mindlessly munching)

Popcorn is the absolute best for mindless munching for me. I use about a tablespoon of butter if I'm feeling indulgent, and just salt otherwise. I can eat an entire (large) mixing bowl's worth by myself and not feel guilty in the slightest. (This is probably one of my most-used Christmas presents in recent memory.)

Never heard of people doing it with an air fryer. Lots of people use a popcorn popper, and it seems similar.

That one just looks like a typical air popper. They're around $15-$30. I got this one(#2 Best Seller on Amazon) from Fred Meyer, and have owned it for about a year. It's great, no complaints, and the little cup on top for butter is even the perfect size to measure out how much popcorn you're supposed to put in it. My dad has an older model by the same company, and after around 7 years, it still works almost as good as when he got it.

As for seasoning it, ignore what /u/JustGreg said about using oil to pop if he likes the buttery flavoring. Oil popped popcorn is awesome(I have one of these too), and coconut oil that's been artificially colored and flavored for popcorn is what you should get if you want movie theater style popcorn, but if he likes the flavor of butter, just put butter on it. Take 1/4 to 1/2 a stick of butter, and either microwave it(AFTER you pop the popcorn, unless you have a 25 amp circuit in your kitchen!), or leave it on the the cup on top of the popper while it pops, and drizzle it on the popcorn after it pops. As for salts, I like Flavacol, which is what a lot of theaters use, Paragon Butter Flavored Seasoning Salt, or Jolly Time Buttery Popcorn Seasoning. Or if you're as lazy as I am, you can just pour some of all three into one of these.

Just remember with the air poppers, the only thing that ever goes into the area where it pops is popcorn, never put butter, oil, or seasonings in while it pops!

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Hot-Popper/dp/B00006IUWA


They're great! And alarmingly unheard of, apparently.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413498821&sr=8-1&keywords=poplite

My family had this or something like it, and it worked well for quite some time (until it had some small malfunction or other, so it doesn't work for whatever reason).

Yea I didn't really know anything about it until I got it home and researched it. The people that owned it before were grinding flavored beans (i.e. coated in syrup) so it was kinda gross, but cleaned up easily. This is the grinder. I guess it's up to $100 bucks haha. STEAL!

Popcorn popper roasting is pretty easy. You have to do fairly small batches (about 1/3 cup per ~5 minutes), but it's not a big deal. It's kind of relaxing and I enjoy the experience. This is the one I have. I found it on sale for around $14. Totally worth it. The only details I had to get down were blocking the exit chute with a piece of foil and cutting some vent holes in the side. You have to do it outside since the chaff goes EVERYWHERE, and it's hot here, so the machine kept overheating and shutting off. Other than that, you just put the beans in, plug it in, stir them around a little (I just use a long stick I found outside..still going strong) until they get light enough to auto-stir, then listen for the crack and watch the color.

It's immensely satisfying roasting your own coffee, and places like Sweet Marias are very knowledgeable and have great selection. I usually order their sampler packs of 3-4 pounds. I save one cups worth of roasted beans from each sample then when I'm done with all of them I do a taste test. With an AeroPress it's super easy to brew multiple cups of coffee at once.

Popcorn hack: Buy a [air popper] (http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408855967&sr=8-1&keywords=air+popper)

My suggestion is an old fashioned air popper.

Popcorn isn't the healthiest thing in the world, but if you air pop instead of using some hardcore buttered microwaveable popcorn your snacking will be a lot less bad for you.(plus if you drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle fresh black pepper and some sea salt it's f'n delish.)

Use an air popper, like this. http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA

If you eat popcorn even just once a week get this: Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Popper. Had one for a while and it works wonders. Tastes better than the microwaved stuff. Get some butter to put on top and let it melt as your popcorn pops or just get some of the flavored popcorn salt or oil at the store to put on it.

For one, it's popped the "regular way" and the butter flavor is likely different. Even though it's super unhealthy, buy microwave popcorn with "movie theater butter flavor", and that should taste more similar.

On a related note, I use an air-popper (I use the #1 Best-Seller on Amazon) and I love it. It is much cheaper in the long run. The downside though is you have to apply butter/olive oil/coconut oil/peanut oil and salt after the fact, which takes some added time. Stove popping is also good, but I don't want to deal with cleaning a pot every time I make popcorn. I use extra virgin olive oil because it's healthier and it still tastes good (different type of taste than movie theater butter flavor, but still good). If you want to air-pop and want "movie theater flavor", you can buy Orville Redenbacher's Buttery Popping/Topping Oil.

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-04820-PopLite-Popper-White/dp/B00006IUWA/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1408341606&sr=1-1&keywords=popcorn+popper