Costco Skinny Pop - Clever Marketing, but Is It Healthy?
Skinny Pop Popcorn at Costco
Costco sells a 14 oz bag of Skinny Pop Organic Popcorn for $6.49. The large bags of Skinny Pop Popcorn can be found in Costco’s Chip area.
This area often varies between Costco warehouses, but at my local warehouse these are in the far back of the store past the frozen food aisles.
Have You Tried Costco's Skinny Pop?
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1 Cup of Skinny Pop Has Only 39 Calories
SkinnyPop is a popcorn brand that focuses on selling healthy and tasty popcorn snacks by using as few ingredients as possible.
Made with whole grain popcorn, sunflower oil, and a light amount of salt, this popcorn is for “snacking without compromise”.
The nice part, each cup of skinny popcorn contains only 39 calories.
Skinny Pop Nutritional Information - Must Read
PopCorn Is Already Low Calorie
Normally, I save the nutritional information for last in a review, but there are a couple of claims on the bag that need to be addressed.
On the front of the bag, SkinnyPop advertises that each cup of popcorn contains only 39 calories.
This is going to be factually correct, but one thing to know is that popcorn does not have many calories to begin with.
It’s already considered a low calorie snacking food and one cup of plain popcorn only contains 35 calories.
How Many Calories in Skinny Pop PopCorn?
The same thing applies to the nutritional label. Each serving of Skinny Popcorn is 28 grams and contains 150 calories.
The calories are made up from 10g of fat, 15g of carbs, and 2g of protein.
1 Ounce or 28 grams of regular plain popcorn contains about 105 calories or so.
Skinny Pop vs Costco Movie Theater Popcorn
While all of their marketing claims are probably technically true, there isn’t anything special about this popcorn that makes it “Skinny Pop”.
Even Costco’s Kirkland Signature “Movie Theater” popcorn has the equivalent amount of calories per serving.
Each cup of Costco’s movie theater popcorn has only 35 calories.
Skinny Pop vs Potato Chip - Calories
Now here is where it gets really interesting, one ounce of potato chips also contains roughly 150 calories! This will vary by brand but this is the same amount as this Skinny Pop Popcorn.
The difference is that one ounce of popcorn will most likely fill you up more than one ounce of potato chips.
And to be fair, they don’t directly market this as a healthy food or a diet food, but just seriously imply it with the name Skinny Pop.
Better Options than Skinny Pop
I personally would opt for Costco Multigrain Tortilla Chips, which have 140 calories per 1 ounce serving or Kirkland Signature Unsalted Mixed Nuts with 170 calories per 1 ounce serving. Pair either with a can of Kirkland Signature Sparkling Water for a winning snack.
Is Skinny Pop Healthy?
Skinny pop is moderately healthy, but it isn’t any healthier than its competition. Skinny Popcorn is made with popcorn which already is low in calories and is naturally filling.
Outside of organic and natural ingredients there isn’t anything that makes Skinny Pop popcorn any more healthy than your typical salted popcorn.
You may like the taste of Skinny Pop and there are only 39 calories per cup, but that’s normal and expected for popcorn. The Skinny Pop marketing team earns their pay, because there is nothing skinny about Skinny Pop.
Costco Skinny Pop Popcorn - Taste Test
This is a Huge Bag
Ok, let’s take a look at the Costco Skinny Pop Organic Popcorn. First, the bag is huge. It holds only 14oz of popcorn but it’s in a full family size chip bag.
It’s about half the weight of a family sized bag of chips but nonetheless the bag is physically massive.
The Skinny popcorn itself is very white and plain looking. It’s not your typical yellow buttery popcorn that you would expect, which is ok because this is marketed as “healthy” food.
Plain Tasting
The Costco Skinny Pop popcorn is a little plain tasting and not very flavorful. One of my major complaints is the inconsistency in the seasoning of the Skinny Pop.
Some pieces were salted fairly normally, while other popcorn pieces were completely unsalted.
Easy to Eat (Not Good for Diets)
While I don’t really find the popcorn to be super tasty, it is still addicting. There’s just enough salt in each bite where I feel that I’m eating healthy but I still want another handful.
It’s easy to overeat with Skinny Popcorn and the large family size bag doesn’t help either.
Costco Skinny Pop Price Comparison
How Much Does Skinny Pop Cost at Costco?
Costco sells the 14oz bag of Skinny Pop for $6.49, but will also discount the item to $3.99 when on sale. This is a whopping price drop of nearly 40%.
At the retail price of $6.49, the price per ounce is $0.46, but when on sale the price per ounce drops to $0.29.
Costco vs The Competition
Target sells a 6.7 ounce “sharing” size of Skinnypop for $3.99 which is the same price as Costco’s discounted 14 oz bag of Skinnypop. Target is charging nearly $0.60 per ounce which is significantly more than Costco’s everyday price.
On the other hand, Sam’s Club’s non-organic skinnypop does actually beat Costco Skinnypop Popcorn retail price. Sam’s Club sells their 14oz value bag for $5.98 or $0.43 an ounce.
This barely edges out Costco SkinnyPop’s regular price. But do keep in mind, Costco Skinny Pop is organic, while Sam’s Club’s Skinny Pop is not organic.
Costco Skinny Pop vs Kirkland Signature MicrowavePopcorn
Compared to regular popcorn, Skinny Pop is going to be significantly overpriced. Costco sells their Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn for $10.99, and that includes 44×3.3 oz bags.
That makes a total of 145.2 ounces and a per ounce price of $0.08. This price is markedly better than Skinny Pop’s sale price of $0.29 per ounce.
Costco’s popcorn can be had for a much lower price while being more than comparable to Skinny Pop’s Nutritional Profile. I’ll go over this a little more in depth in the nutritional information section
Final Thoughts
If you like Skinny Pop Popcorn then there’s no better place to buy it than from Costco. While I consider it to be just overpriced brand name popcorn, it still is somewhat tasty and can be addicting.
I won’t be buying it again as I feel there are tastier and more affordable alternatives that are just as healthy.
Costco Food Database User Reviews
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Greg Larkin is the founder and managing editor of Costco Food Database, the premiere site for honest takes on all things Costco food. A self-proclaimed Costco super-fan since childhood, Greg turned his obsession in a mission to properly rate and review all of Costco’s delicious buys. When he’s not busy navigating Costco aisles, you can find Greg smoking Kirkland Signature meats, meal prepping, or perfecting his homemade jerky recipes.
the price is $6.99 now, 14oz is one of the smallest portion bags costco sells, its time to stuff their pockets with air like they do the bag