Cost of M & S Christmas food

I like to pop into Marks and Spencer to pick up the occasional thing, we both like their Chicken Kyiv. During lock down, when the only supermarket delivery I could secure was from Tesco, not my favourite retailer, so we mainly used them for household and branded stuff, apart from a rye loaf of theirs which I quite liked. As eating out wasn't allowed, we decided to get most of our food from M&S food hall, it was worth the queuing. I'm lucky in my town I have an M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury and Aldi, I float between the four with more groceries coming from the latter two, but I do appreciate getting a few items from M&S and Waitrose too. Apropos of this thread, it's given me ideas which I've never tried before, I think I will get myself along to my local M&S food hall on Christmas Eve pm to see what I can secure, making sure of course that I have backups if everything is gone.

SueDonim

We’ve had this same conversation in our family. I assume M&S must now be aiming at a market of impoverished aristocrats who can no longer afford the staff. 🤔

Their basics can be a reasonable price but once anything is added to gussy it up, the price goes through the roof. It also annoys me that their pre-order system doesn’t mean you can go in and collect your order and leave. You have to queue while staff pick out the items you ordered maybe two months ago and it’s all chaotically (dis)organised. A local farm shop is doing a free range turkey breast with accompaniments for £48 and as we’ll be just four of this year, that will be perfect.

I'm always shocked at the prices in our local farm shop. Go in occasionally, see the prices and leave. Try again months later, still shocked still leave.

mum2three

M&S used to be known for the quality of their food but not any more. I bought one of their Christmas hampers and it was very disappointing. The shortbread wasn't made with butter and was greasy and tasteless. The luxury mince pies are worth buying but the ones from my local Spar are just as good.

They claim to be All Butter Shortbread, so are you saying that M&S are lying?

Allira

mum2three

M&S used to be known for the quality of their food but not any more. I bought one of their Christmas hampers and it was very disappointing. The shortbread wasn't made with butter and was greasy and tasteless. The luxury mince pies are worth buying but the ones from my local Spar are just as good.

They claim to be All Butter Shortbread, so are you saying that M&S are lying?

Well the ones in the hamper certainly weren't all butter, because I checked. I actually threw them away.

Allira

AmberGran

fancythat

Mt61

No wonder they are closing down in certain towns, its way too expensive now.
TBH, I think their chicken is the worst I have ever tasted, it’s rubbery.

Are they?
I didnt know that.

I know they are closing about 11 of their cafes, hadn't heard about any stores. Although a couple have closed recently I think.

A big new flagship store is meant to be opening in Bristol soon.

A big new flagship store is meant to be opening in Bristol soon.

Is that in addition to the one at Cribbs, AmberGran or are they relocating it?

Sorry Allira don't know about that. I just read

M&S has revealed Thursday 13th November as the opening date for its brand-new flagship store at Cabot Circus in Bristol city centre

Apparently they are opening 13 new stores this financial year. So someone, somewhere doesn't mind the prices.

Well, they're doing better than I thought because they were in the doldrums for a bit.

Don't think I'll make it to Cabot Circus now but it should be a welcome addition there. I used to visit the one opposite good old Debenhams years ago!
And Debenhams etc.

Just in M&S and noticed the mince pies are 6 for £4😲 No way am I paying that.
Most supermarkets do perfectly nice ones for less.

Just announced.
www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/christmas/a29385528/best-christmas-food-drink-test/

Unless I missed it M&S didn’t get a mention.
Aldi did very well as did Asda.

I never buy food from M and S,. Even if I had money to spare, I can make most things I want to eat,and offer to guests. Happy to know exactly what is in my food, known as a decent cook. Being able to make food with love. As for mince pies. My special ones are made with pastry contain ingredients butter and orange juice. Sausage rolls with light flaky pastry etc. Yes it takes work but is my contribution to the festivities. When I get to the stage that I am no longer able to cook it all, I shall be supporting local farm shops and the open market. Speaking to people who I have got to know over the years. I can think of nothing I would dislike more than queuing in a push and shove situation, so that is my choice. I shall enjoy whatever we have and like boxing day with cold meat bubble and squeak and lots of different pickles etc. Won't owe pounds to the bank in the new year

Usedtobeblonde

Unless I missed it M&S didn’t get a mention.
Aldi did very well as did Asda.

Sainsbury's didn't seem to do very well. I wonder if they just try one of everything? There will be various turkeys or crowns so I wonder if they check one randomly.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202510/medium-fisu41-ln-939200-bp-11.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202510/medium-370710-4659.jpg

And a Charlie Bigham alternative for two. £29.95
I quite like his meals.

As for mince pies. My special ones are made with pastry contain ingredients butter and orange juice.

Jocelyn Dimbleby recipe?

Yes, I've made those, they are just a little different from the norm.

Sadly, not all of us are up to working in the kitchen for hours making everything from scratch any longer.

Even Mary Berry buys puff pastry!!

escaped

And a Charlie Bigham alternative for two. £29.95
I quite like his meals.

Charlie is here this evening cooking for us 😁

I respect your opinion Madeleine but you do M&S an injustice.
What “push and shove” situation did you envisage?

A keen and at one time professional cook, I too do most of it from scratch, but even the professionals will buy puff pastry sheets, and a lb of good well-seasoned sausages , skinned and combined with ready made puff pastry sheets makes as good sausage rolls as any.

I wish people didn’t feel the need to disparage M&S, implying shoppers have more money than sense or are useless in the kitchen.
There’s a place for every approach and judicious supermarket shopping is no longer just “ping cuisine” but has its place especially in busy lives.

I agree RosieandherMaw I don't buy a lot of prepared food because I like to cook and am able to cook. But the day will come when I am not able, and I will be only too happy to pay M&S/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Co-op/Asda or anyone else to do most of it for me. Can't remember the last time I made puff pastry but I don't think anyone has noticed 😄

Well the amount of people o see in our large M&S. who appear to do their entire weekly shop there, clearly don’t take the advise fro GN😄

I always stand behind someone thinking “oh that looks delicious”!

I buy quite a lot in Marks - mostly stuff that cuts out work, like béchamel sauce, of course pastry, fish prepared ready for cooking like salmon or seabass.

At Christmas and our big family get togethers, it is always my job to get puddings - so marks is my go to every year. -except the Christmas pudding and trifle which are home made.

AmberGran

I agree RosieandherMaw I don't buy a lot of prepared food because I like to cook and am able to cook. But the day will come when I am not able, and I will be only too happy to pay M&S/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Co-op/Asda or anyone else to do most of it for me. Can't remember the last time I made puff pastry but I don't think anyone has noticed 😄

I've only ever made puff pastry once.
It was an interesting experiment. 😁

I used to like Tesco's shortcrust pastry made with Normandy butter, no longer available, sadly.

AmberGran

I agree RosieandherMaw I don't buy a lot of prepared food because I like to cook and am able to cook. But the day will come when I am not able, and I will be only too happy to pay M&S/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Co-op/Asda or anyone else to do most of it for me. Can't remember the last time I made puff pastry but I don't think anyone has noticed 😄

Charlie is my darling, especially this evening when I got home at 6 pm!

Allira

AmberGran

I agree RosieandherMaw I don't buy a lot of prepared food because I like to cook and am able to cook. But the day will come when I am not able, and I will be only too happy to pay M&S/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Co-op/Asda or anyone else to do most of it for me. Can't remember the last time I made puff pastry but I don't think anyone has noticed 😄

I've only ever made puff pastry once.
It was an interesting experiment. 😁

I used to like Tesco's shortcrust pastry made with Normandy butter, no longer available, sadly.

Same here re the puff pastry. It was for a Christmas tree-shaped pie with a chestnut based filling. It was nice enough, but what a faff!

This is reminding me of an old episode of Sunday Brunch when Simon Rimmer was showing us all how to make Battenberg, including the marzipan. They had a viewer phone-in, and someone informed him that (a) you could buy marzipan in the bakery aisle, and (b) it would probably be near to the Battenberg, which at the time sold for 99p . He couldn't stop laughing,

I think the last time I made puff pastry was in domestic science at school. I always like Shirley Conrans saying, "life's too short to stuff a mushroom". and I feel the same about puff pastry.

A few years ago M&S used to have a fair few turkeys left on Christmas Eve. I used to avoid the turkey collection queue, that took up half the food department, and walk round to the poultry section. I would pick up a turkey, which would have been reduced, take it to the check out and use my staff discount to buy it, and then wander home while people were still coming in to queue.

Nowadays I just get everything from Aldi. A couple of turkey joints, all the trimmings, and one of their luxury puddings. I find that my homemade cranberry sauce makes everything taste good. This year I have bought the luxury Sicilian Orange panetonne form Waitrose. I had one last year and it was lovely. I waited until they did their pre Christmas price cut before I bought it.

My late husband used to drive for Waitrose and he said he used to find himself waiting outside the food manufacturers along with lorries from Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury et al

Doodledog

Allira

AmberGran

I agree RosieandherMaw I don't buy a lot of prepared food because I like to cook and am able to cook. But the day will come when I am not able, and I will be only too happy to pay M&S/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Co-op/Asda or anyone else to do most of it for me. Can't remember the last time I made puff pastry but I don't think anyone has noticed 😄

I've only ever made puff pastry once.
It was an interesting experiment. 😁

I used to like Tesco's shortcrust pastry made with Normandy butter, no longer available, sadly.

Same here re the puff pastry. It was for a Christmas tree-shaped pie with a chestnut based filling. It was nice enough, but what a faff!

This is reminding me of an old episode of Sunday Brunch when Simon Rimmer was showing us all how to make Battenberg, including the marzipan. They had a viewer phone-in, and someone informed him that (a) you could buy marzipan in the bakery aisle, and (b) it would probably be near to the Battenberg, which at the time sold for 99p . He couldn't stop laughing,

Oh yes, I made a Battenburg cake from scratch too.
Once.

I did always make the marzipan for the Christmas cake too. It's not so oily as the bought stuff.

SueDonim

We’ve had this same conversation in our family. I assume M&S must now be aiming at a market of impoverished aristocrats who can no longer afford the staff. 🤔

Their basics can be a reasonable price but once anything is added to gussy it up, the price goes through the roof. It also annoys me that their pre-order system doesn’t mean you can go in and collect your order and leave. You have to queue while staff pick out the items you ordered maybe two months ago and it’s all chaotically (dis)organised. A local farm shop is doing a free range turkey breast with accompaniments for £48 and as we’ll be just four of this year, that will be perfect.

Your comment about having to queue while your order is picked made me smile SueDonim.

I worked in a number of M&S stores before I retired, none of which had much back stage refrigeration, so the logistics of handling hundreds of customer orders, most of which were for multiple items was challenging to say the least.

The stock for these orders is of course is on top of the huge amount of additional stock needed to replenish the shop floor, so in my experience the reason your order is picked while you wait is that the store hasn’t the room to store it pre picked.
And yes it was always organised chaos!

escaped

GrannyGravy13

fancythat

Nannan2

Visgirl- mùst be rich 😁😆

I worked that out too!

Unnecessary

I thought we'd had a welcome rest from those sort of rude comments for quite a while.

These comments don’t warrant the head space your giving them 😉
They come from a place of envy or ignorance.