Imagine you are at the movie theater watching the newest, forgettable movie, which is mostly explosions and high-speed car chases, but you are startled by an unexpected sound. It is not the creation of yet another explosion from Michael Bay but rather your stomach growling. What do you do? You could miss a large portion of the movie you already paid too much to see in order to get overpriced snacks from the theater lobby, or you could have prepared ahead of time. My solution is stopping by a gas station to stock up on favorite snacks beforehand.
It is no secret it is cheaper to sneak food into the movies rather than buying some when you get there. Because of the money-saving factor, I believe it should be widely acceptable to put outside food into your purse, pockets, boots or sleeves in order to have a cheaper snack at the movies. Also, I am impressed with the effort people will put into getting their favorite snacks into the movies.
Raquel Laneri of the New York Post reported on the most creative way someone has snuck in their snacks. According to Laneri, one woman put a bowl under her shirt and pretended to be pregnant in order to sneak food into the movies. I am sure you have seen this genius idea floating around the internet too.
But why do we have to go to such great lengths? We must be resourceful when it comes to saving money. The food sold at movie theater concessions is too expensive, and that is how movie theaters try to trap us.
According to Mo Rocca with CBS News, “Each year Americans eat on average about 13 gallons of [popcorn] – a lot of it at the movies. The bag you pay $5 for only costs the theatre about 50 cents…Which is where that neon yellow stuff — no, it’s not really butter, it’s mostly soybean oil — and salt come in. The saltier the popcorn, the more you’ll need a giant soda to slake your thirst. And that’s just fine with theater owners!”
I understand theaters make a lot of their money off food sales, and that popcorn is just too yummy to resist; however, it is unreasonable to expect your patrons to have to nearly sell their organs in order to pay for rising popcorn prices. Some of you might think snack sneaking is tacky, but we are college students. If some of you will take Subway into lectures where people can see you, then you should be fine with taking Subway into the movies where you can eat in the dark.
Another reason for avoiding movie theater popcorn is for health factors. According to Lisa Drayer with CNN, the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that “a medium bucket of popcorn holds 20 cups and contains 1,200 calories, 980 milligrams of sodium and 60 grams of saturated fat, or about three days [sic] worth. Even if you ate only three cups (probably unlikely), you would still consume about half a day’s worth of saturated fat.”
Instead of wasting away on movie theater popcorn, you could sneak in a healthy snack. Of course, you should not take in something loud and crunchy, like apple slices. Instead, you could take in something softer like apple sauce. I know eating a meal before a movie is a good way to avoid buying popcorn or sneaking food, but a mid-afternoon or late-night movie viewing calls for a snack in my opinion. Besides, some of these Marvel movies are getting too long for a pre-movie meal to sustain viewers.
So, if I have not convinced you to sneak snacks into the movie theater, do not come after my purse candy when you are feeling snacky and do not want to spend your money on overpriced popcorn.