Cost of M & S Christmas food

I am a firm supporter of M & S Food Hall, no intentions of abandoning them any time soon.

I went in my local large M and S yesterday, I think they are way overpriced. I think they are trying to recoup the money lost in the cyber attack. Won't be bothering for a while. I am not keen on their instant meals which I used to.
Sainsburys for me in future, the quality is good.

At our local M&S they have had to employ several people to stand by the doors to catch shoplifters- one of them once ran like Usain Bolt after a young chap who had run out with over £300.00 of food! He caught him and came back with the bag. They don’t prosecute - just glad to get the stuff back. I guess this precaution must put up prices.

My thoughts also escaped and I wouldn't be surprised that store is on the list for closure

I would have thought they make more money on food than clothes in the smaller stores?
There's no point going in to look at a rack of trousers when you want to see the full collection to compare.

My local M&S has a small food section now selling basics like butter, bread and cheese. The extensive range they had has been moved to make way for ghastly clothes.

I thought they would have learned a lesson because their Food Store is doing a roaring trade, though it's in a more affluent area.

Thank you!

Allira

^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!!

Even my old GH recipe book (dated early 70s) recommends buying puff pastry, since ‘it’s just as good or better than what you and your rolling pin can produce’.

Ladyleftfieldlover

What is aspartame please?

It's a sweetener, Ladyleftfieldlover

Not a natural one and has been put into the 'possibly carcinogenic' category by International Agency for Research on Cancer although it is approved for food use here.

Last evening my GD and her friend went to a large M£S for a look at workwear and wanted into the food section.
The part food had arrived and they couldn’t resist getting 4 for the price of 3.
They were not impressed.
The prawn toasts and duck spring rolls were ok.
Not really liking the breaded prawns but the huge disappointment were the fish and chip bites.
Apparently tasteless and not nice at all.

What is aspartame please?

Rosie51

^And don't get me started on aspartame being preferable to sugar .......^

Oooh we could 'get started' together on that one!

Ooh, a fellow aspartame hater!!

Dreadful stuff.
I'll never understand why there's a sugar tax but not an aspartame ban!

And don't get me started on aspartame being preferable to sugar .......

Oooh we could 'get started' together on that one!

Sarnia

Allira

escaped

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

Charlie is here this evening cooking for us 😁

High saturated fat and salt in his ready meals. Tasty but not very healthy.

There is too much hype about salt.
People are ending up ill in hospital because of low sodium levels.

And don't get me started on aspartame being preferable to sugar .......

Dylis

Yikes! Just had an email from M&S headed "Our Christmas sandwiches are here!"
Deleted it immediately, its only the 17th of October!

I do like a bit of cranberry sauce in a sandwich!! 😁

Daisycuddles

Has anyone looked at the cost of M & S food (Christmas section)? I had to do a double take. The prices are horrendous. You'd need to take out a loan to pay for it !!

I've not looked. I like to cook. Many want prepared foods, if affordable for them I'll not complain, it's a business and apparently fills a niche.

Yikes! Just had an email from M&S headed "Our Christmas sandwiches are here!"
Deleted it immediately, its only the 17th of October!

Casdon

The thing is, M&S Food is always busy, and they are expanding their food business every year. There’s no doubt enough people will pay the prices they charge and keep them in profit. I do buy some items in M&S for Christmas every year, particularly from their gluten free Christmas range, which is the best - in fact, their gluten free range generally is better than elsewhere, the only other supermarket with a good selection is Sainsburys.

Yes I also buy their gluten free range and buy pressies from their chocolate and biscuit selection for others, but wouldn’t do a Xmas grocery shop there. I buy mostly at Lidl and Aldi and both stores have some really good items for Xmas, always have.

Yes.
I took your wider point, Rosie.
Was really just commenting on the website searching/filtering.
It was actually more of an "aside" - sorry.
(It's a particular bugbear of mine,I'm afraid. Why can't these behemoths put a few more pence into their search facilities!)

NotSpaghetti

Rosie51 - maybe try Ocado? I think their search facility is the best.

I've used them and agree it's often better, though definitely not perfect.
My point was that the poor picker is 'told' on the hand held device what products to select, they do not select substitutions by their own choice, and don't even know what the original item was. Criticising the picker is definitely 'punching down'.

Rosie51 - maybe try Ocado? I think their search facility is the best.

M0nica

TerriBull

I remember reading, about the cons of having a late delivery of the Christmas turkey, obviously wise to take it out of its packaging before the day, as some complained theirs had gone off. Also read, hard to belive, one supermarket retailer, having run out of turkeys, delivered, as a substitute turkey twizzlers hard to believe when it seems there are still plenty in the shops come Christmas Eve.

The thing to remember is that the order picking and substituting of goods when the item of food is out of stock is done by the ordinary supermarket shop workers doing the order fulfillment, who are many and varied in their backgrounds, and some who are just allpurpose clueless.

DS worked for Tesco when studying for a post graduate qualification and he said, undergrads got the favoured jobs on the tills, master degree students (like him, were relegated to loading the shelve while those who were studying for PhDs got the cleaning amd warehousing jobs. Perhaps Tesco know something.

😁

I loaded the shelves in Sainsburys for a while.
Perhaps the manager knew we'd be the ones bother to rotate the items by date.
The sixth formers were put on the alcohol aisle 😲

escaped

^I booked my Waitrose slot mid September, threw on laundry & cleaning products, fizz, wine and beer.^
Are you expecting to make a lot of mess and stains GrannyGravy13? 😹 🍷

Well I did the same!
And yes, I am quite messy!

The thing to remember is that the order picking and substituting of goods when the item of food is out of stock is done by the ordinary supermarket shop workers doing the order fulfillment, who are many and varied in their backgrounds, and some who are just allpurpose clueless.

I imagine most supermarkets work the same way, the hand held device the picker is holding actually tells them what to select as a substitute. I'm sure we've all searched websites using a couple of words and got back results all of which will contain one of those words eg lemon cleanser, lemon juice, lemon cake etc (not the best example but I couldn't think of any other) but which won't be acceptable substitutes. If the worker doesn't know what's being substituted how would they know it's not suitable?

TerriBull

I remember reading, about the cons of having a late delivery of the Christmas turkey, obviously wise to take it out of its packaging before the day, as some complained theirs had gone off. Also read, hard to belive, one supermarket retailer, having run out of turkeys, delivered, as a substitute turkey twizzlers hard to believe when it seems there are still plenty in the shops come Christmas Eve.

The thing to remember is that the order picking and substituting of goods when the item of food is out of stock is done by the ordinary supermarket shop workers doing the order fulfillment, who are many and varied in their backgrounds, and some who are just allpurpose clueless.

DS worked for Tesco when studying for a post graduate qualification and he said, undergrads got the favoured jobs on the tills, master degree students (like him, were relegated to loading the shelve while those who were studying for PhDs got the cleaning amd warehousing jobs. Perhaps Tesco know something.