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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Has M&S food quality dropped?

228 replies

Thewiseoneincognito · 31/03/2021 20:29

This is a weird one but I’ve started to notice over the last couple of months the taste and quality of Marks and Spencer’s food items has really lowered a lot. Has any one else?

I’ve had a few of their ready meals recently with huge chunks of chewy beef in that clearly hasn’t been cut properly, sounds ok but it just looks gross and is usually big boobs of fatty gristle. I found a large sharp piece of flint in a mushroom dish, a piece of blue plastic film in one of their soups. Their sandwiches seem to have stale bread despite being well before the end date. Usually I can let the odd thing slide and put it down to once in a blue moon but it seems to be a regular occurrence.

Before anyone says shop elsewhere, it’s my local food hall, the alternative is a tiny Tesco or Sainsbury’s, great if you need snacks or milk but not exactly the type of store to do a food shop.

M&S has always been a better standard of prepared food compared to others but now I’m doubting they’re any different than regular supermarket offerings. The range of foods seems to have been cut too like they’re no longer bothering to innovate, just churning out the same old but with lower quality control.

OP posts:
Thewiseoneincognito · 31/03/2021 20:29

Blobs no boobs 😆🤣

OP posts:
Happytentoes · 31/03/2021 20:34

I would agree that M&S quality has fallen, but I think it’s the same with Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Tesco is my local store and I have given up on most of their own label items . Had some real horrors lately - mouldy chorizo, weevils in rice, just yuk.

OhShitShit · 31/03/2021 20:36

Yes.

Have had some shockers recently - breaded chicken goujons that were all gristle, food that I realised was 2 days out of date when I got it home...

It’s not just M&S though. Morrisons sent me a clearly off steak last week (green, slimy and stunk when opened), chicken thighs were... not fresh... and the food taste/quality has just been poor from them across the board.

Tbh I’m only really happy with food I’m getting from the local butcher, grocer and baker atm. Most stuff from the supermarkets seems to have gone way downhill.

Hunnybadger1 · 31/03/2021 20:43

We’ve found supermarket chicken, mainly fillets, are practically inedible with a fibrous stringy texture no matter how cooked. And steaks are hit and miss too

PickAChew · 31/03/2021 20:45

I think the quality of their butchery has really suffered. Skinless, boneless chicken thighs that I have to go through and snip shards of bone off, for example. And I've noticed that, by stealth, their salmon no longer claims to be boneless and their larger packs still have the skin on, so you don't get as much for your money.

SusannaMorvern · 31/03/2021 20:47

I think it's probably supplier issues. Our Tesco is dreadful at the moment. Sausages that we've bought for years are virtually inedible now, frozen pizzas now have horrible processed based. Veg/fruit isnt fresh, brand choice has decreased with the cheaper versions that I often buy not available.

SusannaMorvern · 31/03/2021 20:48

And Tesco chicken is often on the edge, before the sell by date.

UncleBunclesHouse · 31/03/2021 20:49

Had a completely inedible, slimy gristly chicken ready meal from M&S the other day - I couldn’t eat it or anything else as it made me feel so queasy. Not the standard you’d expect.

TooYoungToNotice · 31/03/2021 20:52

Definitely noticed this. I was quite shocked by their Best Ever sausage roll which cost a bomb but appears to be full of tiny shreds of potato to bulk it out.

I also had two separate packs of veg still in date but with rotten veg inside.

SirVixofVixHall · 31/03/2021 20:53

@Happytentoes

I would agree that M&S quality has fallen, but I think it’s the same with Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Tesco is my local store and I have given up on most of their own label items . Had some real horrors lately - mouldy chorizo, weevils in rice, just yuk.
Mouldy chorizo and weevils !! that really is bad,
Thewiseoneincognito · 31/03/2021 20:55

@PickAChew

I think the quality of their butchery has really suffered. Skinless, boneless chicken thighs that I have to go through and snip shards of bone off, for example. And I've noticed that, by stealth, their salmon no longer claims to be boneless and their larger packs still have the skin on, so you don't get as much for your money.
Their butchery has had a huge slump in quality. At first I put it down to Covid causing supply issues but it seems to be a consistently lower standard.

I’m not sure if this is anything to be suspicious of but the cooking times of their ready meals seem to have been extended for some lines. 🧐

OP posts:
DenisetheMenace · 31/03/2021 20:56

Always thought it was hugely overrated anyway.

Thewiseoneincognito · 31/03/2021 20:57

@SusannaMorvern

And Tesco chicken is often on the edge, before the sell by date.
I can’t buy anything Tesco own brand anymore, their standards have really dropped off a cliff recently. I’ll only shop there to get things like Alpro or toothpaste when they’re on offer.
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SplendidSuns1000 · 31/03/2021 20:59

I agree with poor meat quality. Every pack of fresh chicken breasts I've bought has 'woody breast' where it's fibourous, chewy and inedible. I cooked DH steak the other day and ended up having to make him toast when he bit into the steak to find it tasted of chemicals (definitely not our fault, pan was clean and it was only cooked in some butter and home grown herbs which I used on my chicken).

Some dairy products we've bought from them recently were off or on the turn despite being allegedly fresh. Also quite a few opened jars of jams and spreads on the shelves.

Asda has been horrific recently too, the same issues with meat and all bread has been mouldy.

BeyondMyWits · 31/03/2021 21:02

So glad it is not just us. Tesco home delivery has been crap for the past 3 to 4 weeks. Ocado delivery, we like for M&S stuff, but the quality of that has gone downhill as others have said. Fed up of chucking money down the drain and wasting food.

Might have to go back to actually shopping in a shop.

Blueskydrink · 31/03/2021 21:02

I shop at Sainsburys and their butchery has so declined I am going vegetarian by stealth! Gristly bloody chicken, plastic shards in bacon, inedible pork shoulder just all fat! My kids love meat so it is hard but it just makes my stomach turn over 🤮

Knitterbabe · 31/03/2021 21:03

I do still buy from m&s ( the lemon muffins from the bakery counter especially), but during First Lockdown we started getting as much as possible from the local farm shops. I do like the Gastropub range , but the prices!!

Thewiseoneincognito · 31/03/2021 21:08

@Knitterbabe

I do still buy from m&s ( the lemon muffins from the bakery counter especially), but during First Lockdown we started getting as much as possible from the local farm shops. I do like the Gastropub range , but the prices!!
I agree, there are things that are just fantastic from Marks’, like for me their actual lemons beat everywhere else hands down there’s no contest. They do a jar of stuffed olives with garlic and peppers which again you can’t beat for £2.

One of the issues we had was with the gastropub range, THANKFULLY it was a yellow sticker so we hadn’t paid the fortune it would have been a day earlier. The cottage pie. A huge slab of gristly beef hidden under the mash topping. Gross.

OP posts:
Daisylookslost · 31/03/2021 21:12

I got some of the blueberry / raspberries mixed punnet from there about 6 weeks ago. Raspberries were off.

Glitteryone · 31/03/2021 21:15

Yes OP, the quality has dropped without a doubt.

I used to love M&S and didn’t mind spending extra money for the great tasting food, but the last few times I’ve been really disappointed with most of the food items.

Their expensive dry cured water thin ham for example has been slimy and watery in the packet and as a few posters have stated - the chicken has been shocking quality. Probably similar to tesco value or worse!

Glitteryone · 31/03/2021 21:15

Wafer thin, not water thin!!!!!

TheFiend · 31/03/2021 21:16

I’ve found m&s quality gone down on some of my favourite things. I don’t know if I’m imagining it but I swear the portions shrink every time I get something from there!

The chicken from Sainsbury’s is absolutely awful. We ordered some breasts and thighs and both were so tough they were inedible. They had a really weird texture.

rainbowninja · 31/03/2021 21:27

I can't say I'm too excited about M and S these days but I think I'm also just over convenience food, I must be getting old Confused

JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil · 31/03/2021 21:30

Probably two things:

  1. They now sell via Ocado and maybe standards have dropped to meet demand.
  1. Brexit. Bought steak last week and noticed it had come from Turkey. I’ve never noticed that before.
Morgoth · 31/03/2021 21:33

Glad it’s not just me. I use Ocado and so get M&S products now and I agree that the quality of their food seems to have declined.