I know what you’re thinking: movie snacks? Or perhaps you’re actually thinking, “Why 30 days? I’m lost.” If you’re the latter, you may want to back up and read the post introducing my 30-day blog series. If you’re all caught up, or okay with being a little confused, then let’s continue.

30 days of movie snacks! Am I really going towatch a movie and eat snacks every day? Why, yes, yes I am.The Oscars are fast approaching and for the first time I’m going to watch EVERY movie that’s nominated. Every. Single. One. My mom and I started this plight after the holidays and it quickly took form over the last month. We made a list of all the nominees (57 movies!!), checked off the ones we’d already seen (a measly six), and began scheduling daily movie appointments at the local theaters. By now, we should be Regal Cinema VIPs.

Usually when I go to a movie, I zone in on the popcorn, but when you’re going to a movie every day, you start to look for alternatives. Your heart can only keep up with so much butter and salt, after all. So try the nachos! Just kidding, but I had never realized how much food is available at movie theaters; they really do have nachos! When you walk up to the concession stand, these are the most familiar sites:

Now the theater has so much more than popcorn and candy…and nachos! There are hot dogs, pizza, Icee’s, boneless chicken wings, ice cream sandwiches, soft pretzels, mini cinnamon rolls… Has anyone else realized this yet? Are they competing with baseball stadiums now?

Despite the vast menu, I still continued to smuggle in an orange or some almonds in an attempt to maintain my health during this Oscar endeavor, but “Gourmet Popcorn” caught my attention during our third week of theater-going. There was a glowing glass container of bright green popcorn on the counter and I asked, “Is that pickle popcorn?!” The amused cashier responded that it was in fact caramel apple corn. I then learned that they had 12 kinds of gourmet popcorn. Obviously I asked for one of everything and that’s how I ended up with this:

It’s a popcorn rainbow! Believe it or not, there are a dozen flavors in there. For clarity, I’ve composed a descriptive list of them all. Oh, the things we do for the blog, like asking movie theater cashiers to go to the back for the final two flavors so I can indeed have the full gourmet popcorn experience, and then carefully separating all 12 flavors into groups on a piece of paper. I do it all for you, my readers, so you’re welcome!

Caramel corn is the only kind of popcorn that is easy for me to eat one piece at a time. Seriously, I can only eat buttered popcorn by the handfuls and can barely wait for the person sitting next to me to get their hand out of the bag before I’m shoving mine back in. They usually give me an annoyed look because I’m a complete stranger eating their popcorn…not, it’s usually my dad because he’s exactly the same. And you know you are, too. If you aren’t, and can honestly eat popcorn piece-by-piece, please comment below so I can meet someone with that kind of self control.

Anyway, back to the gourmet popcorn. There were indeed 12 flavors, although they mostly tasted pretty similar. The ones that really stood out were Snickerdoodle (lovely burst of cinnamon), cheddar (because it was salty and a different texture), and the caramel apple (which really did taste like one of those caramel apples you get at the fair, but much easier to bite and chew).

So there you have it. My mom and I thought we were on a role with a movie a day, but after doing the math have realized we’ll have to squeeze in a bunch of double features, sometimes triple, to finish in time for February 28. I’m actually watching 50 Shades of Grey right now while writing because, let’s be honest, that movie doesn’t require my full attention and we’re on a schedule here! My accompanying movie snack is a vodka and club soda, with a splash of cranberry. I call it the “50 Shades of WTF?” cocktail, shown here on top of our massive list of movies.

We’ve almost exhausted the mainstream movies at the theaters, so I’m excited to get really creative with our movie snacks at home. Don’t forget to follow @whoeatsbetter on Instagram and see even more pictures and posts throughout these 30 days.