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I’m surprised the Pop Up Bowl wasn’t invented until now. My mind boggles when I consider all the inventions someone thought of (and capitalized upon) before this quite practical invention. You know, stuff like curly straws, dog goggles, and miniature Sharpies. I am certain when I say that no canine ever in the entire history of puppy-kind ever really desired goggles. OK, maybe the cosmonaut dogs shot into space by the USSR needed some, but those little guys already had a lot on their plates, what with having to demonstrate Soviet might beyond the stratosphere and all. Reducing glare probably wasn’t a priority.
Orville Redenbacher offers the new Pop Up Bowl with their Butter, 94% Fat Free Butter, and Movie Theater Butter microwaveable varieties. The Pop Up Bowl is basically a standard microwave popcorn bag, except it is made with a red, plastic tear-off cover on one side that gives you direct access to your snack when removed.
The “bowl” does actually stand up by itself, and it’s very cute. Thick red-and-yellow stripes and a festive, gold band make the Pop Up Bowl look like something from an old-timey movie theater… which is nice if you’re nostalgic for that sort of thing. It’s nothing like the oversized, top-heavy cups they give you at the movies now with a Quantum of Solace Aston Martin or Johnny Depp’s pirated-up face on it, so that’s a plus.
The Pop Up Bowl’s plastic covering was a little harder to tear off than I anticipated. It’s attached with industrial strength glue and is stuck to the corner pocket of the bowl in such a way that it twists up and doesn’t just shear off when you tug it. This can be a bit of a problem when you take into account the fact that this is a heaping bowl of popcorn, filled with kernels ready to fly everywhere at the first errant yank.
Truthfully, it wasn’t that big of a production to get the bag open, but I think they could’ve made it a little simpler to remove, since that’s the whole point. If Orville Redenbacher went through all the trouble of touting the “Easier Snacking, Sharing & Clean-Up” motto, they could at least keep you from spilling your popcorn everywhere.
Despite the cleverness and practicality of this concept, I can’t really think of a real reason why we needed the Pop Up Bowl. Sure, it saves you the effort of having to wash a plastic bowl and makes popcorn feasting a little cleaner, since you no longer have to reach deep inside a greasy bag and get butter all over every inch of your hands… but as nice and as water-saving as those perks are, we’d be fine without them.
Maybe the creation of this Pop Up Bowl speaks more to the fact that despite record-setting opening weekends for movies, audience numbers are way down. People are staying home, renting movies and enjoying their popcorn on the couch. But I realize Orville Redenbacher can’t comment on that. “Easier Snacking, Sharing, Clean-up, and Destruction of the Movie Studio Business Model” doesn’t seem like it would fit on the label.
(Nutrition Facts – ½ bag (about 7.5 cups popped) – 120 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0.5 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 240 milligrams of sodium, 300 milligrams of potassium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 8% iron.)
Item: Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop! Butter Pop Up Bowl
Price: $3.49 (on sale)
Size: 3 bags
Purchased at: Ralphs
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Cleaner than a normal popcorn bag. Dogs in space. Bowl does actually stands up on its own. Movie theater nostalgia. Aston Martins.
Cons: Functional but unnecessary. Dog goggles. Plastic lid can be difficult to tear off. The modern movie studio business model. Johnny Depp dressed as a pirate, again.
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My goggle-less dog enjoyed the new pop-up bowl. He used to get the old-style popcorn bags stuck on his head while trying to get the last kernels.
The red plastic on the bottom of the bowl dyed the counter red.
Worst microwave popcorn I’ve ever had. It burned, and what little didn’t burn tasted horrible and stuck to the bag. Yuck ! I’ve had Orville Redenbacher popcorn before and it was fine. This new pop up bowl seemed like a cool gimick but didn’t work.
I got the pop-up bowl popcorn in Kettle Korn (which brings up an awkward image of the band just stewing in a kettle…yikes) and hey, it’s delicious. Probably the best microwave popcorn I’ve ever had and while the pop-up bowl doesn’t matter to me because I usually just eat popcorn from the bag, it does feel a lot less greasy and icky. There’s not that gross fake-butter film along the side that rubs off on your hands.
Found bowl very hard to open. Finally used sharp knife. Popcorn was excellent but technology needs work.
We loved the tenderwhite,had it at least 4-5 times a week. The new packaging just burns the corn that pops and leaves the rest unpopped. We’ve even tried setting the power at a lower level-same result the kernels that popped burned. Tried stopping it sooner, good popcorn but less than half popped. Really unhappy with the new invention–give us back the old bag and we will start buying it again.
Not a fan of microwaving with plastics, and the plastic smell of the Pop Up Bowl is quite strong. Maybe even part of the taste. The lid also pulls off and takes a lot of kernels with it. How is that better?
I’ve had no problems with the bowl. The trick to the lid is to tear while pulling where the little slits are.. They’re about an inch down. Works PERFECT for every time.
Just tried the pop up and was really disappointed. Seemed to be a smaller portion size than the old package, didn’t pop all the kernels like usual, and the red plastic burned my fingers…hard to pull up. PLUS, the plastic makes it non recyclable as paper. NOT IMPRESSED!
There’s nothing good about to say about the pop-up bowl. As sited above, it’s tricky to open without getting scorched; some of the popcorn burns no matter what the cooking time while other kernals remain unpopped. Please return to the former packaging which always worked perfectly or get about addressing the many issues with the current packaging. PLEASE.