Marks and Spencer food..

[CurlewKate]

I posed a while ago that I was doing a neighbour’s shopping for a while and she only uses M&S. I’m on my own at the moment, and she told me to shop for myself as well, which I was very excited about-I though posh convenience food would be great in this heat. But I’m actually very disappointed- it all seems a bit bland and samey. So far the things I’ve liked best are some Eton Mess cronuts-sadly I can’t live on them , much though I’d like to! And some delicious blood orange and passionfruit cordial. Oh, and a crab linguini (once I added some chilli and lemon juice) What’s your favorite M&S ready meal?

@RainbowZebraWarrior the waitrose one is too burned and isn't close to marks one.

Agree the salt and pepper isn't the same quality and the chicken is stringy.

Their gluten-free baked goods are good, especially the bread and cakes. Most of them don’t contain preservatives, although the flaky pastry things might.

We buy all of our food from M&S.

We don’t buy ready meals (by which I mean pasta type things that you heat up), but we do buy loads of their convenience foods like their couscous salads, pesto pasta salad and the cheese coleslaw and all the deli fillers and different types of houmous. Also their grains and lentil pouches. My son loves their creamed spinach and parmentier potatoes.

The sirrachi prawn poke bowl is my go to lunch when working at a particular site (only a few times a month so affordable). Loving the sour cherry soda, chocolate custard creams and the coriander and lime crisp things.

A lot of supermarket foods are labelled ‘not for EU’ but AFAIK it’s a red tape thing, not down to quality. At any rate M&S animal welfare standards are probably way ahead of EU standards - Denmark for one is factory farming central.

Not a food item per se (agree with all those who feel their food quality - but not price!!! - has deteriorated in the last few years) but their pre-mixed Mojitos are far and away the best I’ve come across 😃 (and, yes, I am a connoisseur).

sadly, others seem to have discovered this, as they frequently seem to be sold out now since this heatwave started 😩

Their fruit, veg and salad stuff are first rate. No other supermarket comes close.

The ready meals all seem to include one or more unusual ingredients yet, in spite of this, they are still rather bland and the portions are small for the price.

We use M&S as greengrocers and a source of milk and bread TBH. Nothing more.

Their low calorie ready meal selection is fabulous, my favourite is the chicken in mushroom sauce 😋

Incidentally, the posh squash makes amazing ice lollies!

If you want a ready cooked chicken there is no one that does it better than M&S. Great for an easy dinner with salad. I've tried Tescos (ok) & Lidl (disgusting) so have decided that I'll pay for the M&S ones when I really want one.

I think M&S curry ready meals are decent quality. We had the butter chicken last night (generous with the chicken and it was tender, not rubbery) with some pilau rice and onion bahjis.
I like the little Colin the Caterpillar cakes and the choc orange mini bites, but not in this weather.
For a snack, houmous with a bag of rosemary and thyme roasted pitta chips. (New fave.)
Their sliced meat is pretty good too. The roast chicken seems to be real, and the roast beef with coriander and garlic is good in a wrap with salad for a quick lunch.
Actually I scrolled through my Ocado favourites and there's not as much own brand M&S as I thought there would be.

I love the Morrisons rotisserie chicken (well I did until I stopped eating chicken!)
tastes the nicest to me

It'll be nothing to do with the ingredients. A lot of British products which could be sold in the EU pre Brexit now can't be.

The Butter Chicken is the best I’ve found anywhere, I generally get them on offer and freeze as dd loves them so much, and once a week needs a quick meal before going out early. The special chocolates at Easter and Christmas are always a hit with the kids too.

Other than that, I’m not sure it’s much better than other supermarket finest ranges now. PIL like them as they aren’t too big and they find them easy to prepare.

Their Porn Star martini is also very good - from the Marksologist range, in a black bottle.

I don't like ready meals and they're obviously not cost effective for a family but I do have to say their luxury lasagne is very nice for when you really can't be arsed to spend hours prepping a ragu. Always goes down well in our house.

I also think their meat is good quality and they have fab seasonal bits, eg picnic bits at the moment. My lot go mad for their crackling sticks.

I've found Morrisons is ok if you eat it as is but if you're adding it to other dishes, eg a warm orzo or risotto, it goes weirdly gummy.

I think the price is very similar at my local butcher and at Booths for beef fillet. It’s always really expensive.

Love their strawberries and cherries. And the carrot and ginger juice which I'm addicted to. I also like the chicken and butter bean salad.
I noticed the British strawberries also said not for sale in 5he EU 🤔

The chicken burgers from the frozen section are amazing but everyone else thinks so too so if they are in stock I have to buy at least 2 packs. Also in the frozen section 2 sourdough loafs which are so handy to have in the freezer!
The prawn pasta salad is my favourite treat lunch, tho red delicious apples are lush, the strawberries are great this year & especially nice with some of their Belgian waffles!

I do buy their higher welfare chicken too!

i think you’re obviously buying the wrong things OP because I still rate M&S food!

I love the Coronation chicken. I don’t buy ready meals so I can’t comment on them.

I’m from South Africa and we have a pretty good M&S equivalent (Woolworths) but my gosh you guys are spoilt in comparison. Grocery shopping at M&S is always on the holiday to do list in the UK, I love it. It may be a novelty that would wear off if I lived there permanently.

From their vegan selection:

Kievs
Lasagne
Victoria sponge cake
Churros
Cookies
Cheesy breadsticks
"Prawn" crackers

Their vegan pizzas are also good and they sell the best salads.

I do 80% of my food shop in M&S but the availability has been hit by the recent troubles and I can’t get some of my regular buys in store so have resorted to Ocado . The gastropub range is on the whole excellent for a couple of nights when I don’t want to spend long cooking .

The Best Ever Chicken Tikka Masala and rice is amazing!