Supermarket Christmas party food is rubbish

All of it looks really anaemic, but it is better once cooked

Never done any this Xmas party food. Besides you can only cook 1.5 packs of the 50 piece platters in the oven at once. When we have buffets - not at Christmas, other times of the year. We had quiches, salad - things like tomatoes, cucumber, peppers were in separate pots. Then cooked chicken portions, baguettes, pasta salad,

M & S stuff is really good. The little pies, yorkshires and that range. All very tasty.

Aw sometimes a bit of beige is nice- it’s comfort food to me. Love the vegan options this year!

Agree, OP! It's all ultra processed crap, tastes of nothing but salt, and makes me feel physically ill! I do have a sensitive stomach, but DH also hates it and he's got a stomach of steel. It looks so unappetising!

Went to a Christmas party the other night, and the host server a table of it up. Horrible! Me and DH stuck to the homemade potato salad and bread rolls after having a nibble. Price of it is outrageous too! We just make our own!

Every year I’m tempted by the idea but put off by the reality. There’s usually one thing in each shop I like and that’s it.

Not the same thing at all, but one Christmas food I did love was tsar-cut salmon from Waitrose. Discontinued and this year I haven’t found a delivery option that works. Gutted.

Going against the grain here.

Newsflash - people have different tastes and people like different things!

There is quite a variety of different party food about, and I've tasted loads of lovely things over the years.

Well they're cooked weeks and weeks before and then are delivered to the supermarket on the defrost so...I think they probably deliver what people expect of them tbh.

I agree as well. Even stuff I’ve bought at M&S previously has been as bad as any supermarket offering. I just don’t bother with that type of ‘party’ food anymore.

I stick to pretty much cheese and crackers (and a chutney), salad, cold meats, smoked salmon, crisps etc for a cold Christmas tea. I will usually get tempura prawns in the party section as I like those.

Agree. I used to buy a few packs to eat as easy food over New Year, now I get different cheeses, quality savoury biscuits, olives, cornichons etc; much nicer.

Why would anyone buy it thinking it would be anything but shits. It looks horrendous. Turkey twizzler type of ultra processed and covered in breadcrumbs. If you did a blind taste testing could you work out what the main ingredient was supposed to be?

Cook it yourself or just do cheese, meat and olives.

Booths and Waitrose Christmas food is decent.
Lidl has some nice stuff in as well.

I usually get my party food for Christmas eve from M and S but tbh I'm going to look at what Aldi has in (from 19th) as the M and S stuff looks pretty shite. And also ££££ for what it is.

Or I might just do a few sarnies, bread and oil, olives, salad, quiche and sausage rolls, etc. Or the normal tapas bits from M and S.

I think everything this year with a Christmas wrapper on it is ridiculously priced. I've been buying bits for the last few weeks and hiding them from everyone.

And I bet the 27th everything is massively reduced because no one wants or can afford to pay £6 for a few onion bhaji and samosas.

All the party food I’ve seen looks pretty poor and 50% packaging - which is probably as tasty as the food.
As I host for 10-12 people Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I usually buy convenience party food for C Eve. Not this year. I shall make my own.

The quality may have gone down or that we've become discerning. Or drinking less. Or all three.

Make them!

A mumsnet thread on which we ALL agree! A first, surely!

It’s a nightmare if you’re gluten free! I couldn’t find anything!!

I agree. I do enjoy the Brie and cranberry tartlets and the mini pies from M&S . Everything else I’ve tried has been so bland. I got the mini Indian snacks from M&S last year and they were so bland and disappointing.

I think so too, @NeedToChangeName. I think the M&S offering has gone downhill considerably, I was there yesterday and was very underwhelmed, I hardly bought anything. Everything that ASDA (nearest supermarket to me) has looks crap - as you say, really brown and unappetising. (Greasy, too).

PS I also think that M&S ready meals are pretty shocking these days too, much less choice and taste than there used to be, but that’s another thread x

Totally agree!
We gave canapés instead of a starter on Christmas Day, and I went to look yesterday in Tesco & M&S.
It was all beige, full of fat, and bland!

I'll make my own

Do you have any local independent delis? Will be expensive but probably worth it.

I second Marks & Sparks, they usually do good stuff.

Beyond that, it’s all a
bit beige.

Agreed.

Beige toddler food.

Yep, I am lazy and love a grazing meal/tapas/Mlmezze. I would would often happily have a selection of starters to share than individual meals. Shop party food is rarely nice, often dry and it is ££££. M&S and Waitrose etc not really any better than he more run of the mill supermarkets. I live in Yorkshire and for the last 20 years (working in local authority so no corparate catering or funded xmas meals) I have attended many fuddles. If you know- you know. They can be great if people bring in some lovely home cooked dishes to share. More often they are loads of people shuffling around in the conference room eating beige food which has not been heated up and eberyone wondering how long they have to stay before getting back to work 😂