Best supermarket Christmas food to order in 2024, from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, M&S and more | The Independent

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These supermarkets are already getting us into the festive spirit

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Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year, particularly when it comes to the next-level food and drink. Without fail, supermarkets are quick to get into the holiday spirit by unveiling their festive fare well in advance – you’ve probably seen it starting to fill shelves already.

Every year, we’re spoilt for choice, with an abundance of party food, main dishes and show-stopping desserts to choose from, all of which make it far easier for us to cook up a storm during the festive period.

All the big guns including Asda, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S have launched their festive menus, with new delicacies for you and your guests to enjoy from morning until night. Most of the supermarkets have pre-orders open now too, so we’d recommend booking a slot pronto before they sell out.

Whether you’re looking to order your meaty mains, plant-friendly centrepieces or platters that will keep your house guests well-fed, you’re in for a real treat. From M&S to Waitrose, it’s here where you’ll find all of the details about the best Christmas food to order for a perfect festive feast.

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One supermarket that never scrimps at Christmas time is M&S, and pre-orders for its food to order service are now officially open. Collection slots are available for 22, 23 or 24 December, and orders will need to be picked up from your local M&S.

On the menu this year (beyond a series of turkeys, of course), mains include wagyu beef pie (£50, Marksandspencer.com), a leg of lamb with port red wine jus (£65 Marksandspencer.com), a honey glazed vegetable and Cheddar galette (£22, Marksandspencer.com), shellfish pie topped with mash and a cheesy parsley crumb (£50, Marksandspencer.com).

When it comes to party food, there’s a brie en croute (£17, Marksandspencer.com), a sausage roll garland (£10, Marksandspencer.com), a charcuterie grazing platter (£45, Marksandspencer.com), a luxury shellfish platter (£50, Marksandspencer.com) and more on the menu.

Pud includes M&S’s chocolate pine cones (£16.50, Marksandspencer.com), and a salted caramel tiramisu cheesecake (£20, Marksandspencer.com). And would it really be an M&S Christmas without a Christmas-themed Colin the Caterpillar (£15, Marksandspencer.com)?

Sainsbury’s has unveiled a huge selection of foods available to pre-order, with collection dates set for 22, 23, and 24 December. In terms of meats to serve for your main course, you’ll be able to pick from a series of turkeys, including a turkey crown with spiced cranberry and sourdough stuffing (from £35, Sainsburys.co.uk). Alternatively, pick from the likes of venison casserole with cranberries and root vegetables (£16, Sainsburys.co.uk), beef Wellington (£40, Sainsburys.co.uk), and a turkey and Wiltshire ham pork pie (£28, Sainsburys.co.uk).

As for seafood, select from a scallop and king prawn fish pie (£14, Sainsburys.co.uk), a roasted salmon joint marinated in cranberry juice and demerara sugar and topped with cranberries and jalapeno chilli (£20, Sainsburys.co.uk), and more. Moving onto the vegetarian options, there’s a stuffed roast butternut squash £10, Sainsburys.co.uk), a roast carrot galettea (£8.50, Sainsburys.co.uk) and a mushroom, cavolo nero and chestnut filo pie (£10, Sainsburys.co.uk) among the options.

Desserts sound just as delicious (and even more indulgent), with a selection of twists on festive favourites, like the apricot and almond Christmas pudding (£8.50, Sainsburys.co.uk), millionaires yule log (£11, Sainsburys.co.uk) and a sticky toffee wreath (£12, Sainsburys.co.uk).

With delivery slots for Morrisons’ Christmas food now open, shoppers can order their feast and have it delivered (or pick it up in-store) between 20 and 24 December. As for what’s on offer, mains include a roast in the bag turkey crown with bacon (£23, Morrisons.com), a beef roasting joint (£10.80, Morrisons.com) and vegan dishes such as a vegan turkey joint (£6 Morrisons.com), or mushroom, spinach and pine nut wellingtons(£5, Morrisons.com).

Moving onto the party food; dough balls and French camembert wreath (£6.50, Morrisons.com) or cheese and bacon loaded potato skins (£4, Morrisons.com) will get cheese fans’ attention. All about dessert? There’s a choice of sticky toffee pudding with a caramel sauce centre (£8, Morrisons.com), Madagascan vanilla and raspberry panna cotta star (£8, Morrisons.com) and other puds to pick from.

Getting into the festive spirit very, very early this year, Tesco was one of the first supermarkets to unveil its festive food to order range for 2024, which can be collected or delivered between 20 and 23 December – but bear in mind the last day you can place your orders is 14 December.

Beyond traditional dishes, there’s a maple and bourbon crackling gammon joint (£25, Tesco.com), a Plant Chef mushroom and chestnut festive wreath (£5, Tesco.com) and a winter vegetable and three cheese pithivier with salsa verde (£22, Tesco.com) among the options this year.

In terms of fish, you can serve everything from a salmon wellington (£16, Tesco.com) to lobster (£20, Tesco.com), which we’re sure will prove to be a party food showstopper. Or, vegan or vegetarian dishes could steal centre stage – think a roasted butternut wellington (£7, Tesco.com), mushroom and truffle tarts (£14, Tesco.com) and a vegan no turkey crown (£5, Tesco.com).

As for party food, your guests could be digging into a seafood medley £22, Tesco.com), fighting over olive and antipasti platter (£14, Tesco.com) or even tucking into a selection of filled mini Yorkshire puddings (£12, Tesco.com).

You’ll undoubtedly want to make room for desserts, which sound just as mouthwatering; think, a morello cherry chocolate delice (£20, Tesco.com), a sticky toffee and pecan croissant star (£10, Tesco.com), and a caramel chocolate cascade pudding (£13, Tesco.com).

Turning our attention to Aldi (the budget-friendly supermarket most loved for its Specialbuys range), it has teased an array of festive mains, party food, and brand-new tipples, including its wagyu range and plant-based dishes. Mains landing in stores from 19 December will include the likes of a smoked British bacon-topped turkey (£37.98, Aldi.co.uk), and, as for fish dishes, you could be serving up salmon with lemon, sticky maple, and clementine glaze (£11.99, Aldi.co.uk). Meat-free options will include a roasted vegetable snowflake with butternut squash, chestnuts, cranberries, and pumpkin seed (£4.99, Aldi.co.uk).

Next up, party food. Shoppers will be able to pick up the likes of hoisin duck or sweet and sour veg bao buns £1.99, Aldi.co.uk), prawn toast sandwiches with a ponzu dip (£3.99, Aldi.co.uk), and breaded chicken doughnuts (£3.49, Aldi.co.uk) from 6 December. Cheese fanatics will be pleased to see the return of Aldi’s cheese tower centrepiece (£12.99, Aldi.co.uk). And, new for 2024, there will be a crackable chocolate gold coin £6.99, Aldi.co.uk) in stores from 21 December, and mince pie cheesecake bites £3.49, Aldi.co.uk) from 6 December. Keen to get the party started early? Aldi’s new “diamond prosecco” is available in stores now.

Waitrose has announced it will be launching 554 Christmas products this year, and you book your slot for Christmas now (Waitrose says slots are selling fast, so we’d do this sooner rather than later). Starting your Christmas morning as you mean to go on, you could tuck into spicy streaky bacon rashers and whiskey and orange smoked salmon. Plus, it’s unveiled Limoncello and Cointreau as boozy flavours to anticipate this year, think Limoncello fizz panettone (£12, Waitrose.com), white stilton with Limoncello, and Cointreau and cranberry Christmas pudding (£4.50, Waitrose.com).

If you’re already thinking about hosting a festive soiree, guests could be fighting over buffet dishes, such as crispy bacon carbonara cups, and crab and brown butter crumpets.

For the main Christmas meal, starters will include pistachio and apricot pork terrine, and lobster, crab and prawn cocktails. This will be followed by centrepieces such as treacle glazed turkey crown with a pork, chestnut and bacon stuffing (from £60, Waitrose.com), British wagyu beef sirloin joint with a beer malt glaze and shallot, herb and garlic crumb (from £59, Waitrose.com).

To finish, red velvet bauble dessert (£20, Waitrose.com), mini brownies and tiramisu are among the desserts that have been unveiled for far (we’re eyeing up the Belgian chocolate and hazelnut torte).

With Christmas delivery and collection slots now open, Asda has pulled out all the stops with its 540-product large Christmas range for 2024, which spans both returning top picks and new additions to get our mouths watering. Its signature flavour this year will be fig, whiskey and spiced honey and we can expect 16 new goodies to incorporate this decadent-sounding combination of flavours, including whisky fig and spiced honey mince pies (£2.50, Asda.com).

Other main dishes to get excited about include a variety of turkeys of course (£42.75, Asda.com) slow-cooked beef shin and an OMV! vegan whole no turkey. And then there’s the party food, think festive bites like butter chicken samosas, prawn and veg dim sum and tempura prawns, and a Charcuter-wreath which is as it sounds a DIY wreath of Salami, prosciutto, Manchego cheese triangles and more.

So far, desserts include a panettone as a traditional dish and the raspberry, pistachio and passionfruit pavlova wreath (we’ve got our name written all over this one).

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