M&S have failed with their veggie Christmas food this year?

[MandSLetDown]

Nut roasts etc arrive in store only a few days before Christmas and sell out almost instantaneously. The very lovely store assistant said they could have sold at least 20 times the number they had in and she’s spoken to a lot of disappointed people.

Slim pickings for the rest of the its in the plant based Christmas range - literally only one or two single items on the shelf.

This is a huge M&S. Rest of store decently stocked. Staff working their socks off btw so no complaints there.

Why of why do M&S do this to themselves. It’s the same with size 12 or 14 jeans - never any available. Or the most common sizes in footwear.

Nothing says Christmas like a bottle of oil! It's not as if people uses it all year round....

Ew to having to go to the meat section to find the veggie stuff. I wouldn’t go in the meat isle - which is probably why I missed the relocated stuff.

Fortunately, I saw a couple of good veggie Christmas options in Waitrose a fortnight ago and have them in the freezer. I wasn’t convinced I would feel up to shopping in m and s a couple of days before Christmas and it looks like that was a good call. I prefer fresh to defrosted but need to know there is something to go on the table!

Agree in general re vegetarian offerings. They are rubbish - Indian and Chinese meal choices are getting worse too.

They have done the same in clothing with their petite range. It used to be in one place, now the clothes are mixed up with everything else.

So now I have to look for something I like, then see if they do it in the petite range. Usually it's a no so I start again.

One trip I found a dress I liked, and was available in petite, except the dresses were on a high rail that being 5 ft 2 I couldn't reach. Unbelievable.

I gave up.

I have one veggie coming on Christmas Day. I ordered a small pack that serves 1 which contained a small fake turkey joint, two pigs in blankets and some stuffing from Sainsburys.

It was sold out, so they've subbed it for this huge fake turkey crown instead! I hope she is hungry 😂

You can pre-order the M & S Christmas food online, that's how I got a nut roast last year. You just book a collect slot at any local foodhall or store.

Ocado generally sell out very quickly unless you get a slot in September!

If you can’t get one, I really recommend this recipe. I make it every year and will do so again tomorrow. I hate mushrooms so leave them out but keep everything else the same. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf

😂 Merry Christmas

This is the first time I've encountered 'ambient' in this context on MN. I noticed on the Deliveroo Hop that it is used as the sole word in 'Description'.

Sainsbury’s have been brilliant for the 4/5th year in a row. Fresh turkey crown delivered on time. Went in store yesterday for a last minute gift and checked out the veggie section, all fully stocked and most of it 15p a bag

M&S are very focused on the pre orders - it was incredibly efficient and well run this morning. 4 ,middle aged women in festive jumpers armed with clipboards. There was even a queue for the queue, dead Queen style!
The shop was carnage but they did have everything and were restocking at 8.30am.
I love Christmas!

I'm making this one in advance tomorrow. Its better cooked, cooled, in the fridge overnight then sliced and reheated under the grill or top of oven. I whizz the mushrooms in the food processor so there are no lump and are undetectable taste wise.

I remember going in to an M&S and asking for a regular sort of sock that I had alwasy bought there. The sales assistant told me that they no longer stocked them as there was no demand but there had been a lot of people coming in and asking for them.

That was a long time ago but I still remember it.

It's notoriously difficult to predict what consumers will actually want. (Ref. Dubai chocolate going viral in 2024, causing a global spike in the price of pistachios).
Availability of fresh food will be limited by what the suppliers can physically make and truck out to the stores, they'll be working flat-out this time of year as it is, and a lot of the stuff won't store well.
M&S need the profit from the sale of several items to make up for the cost of each unsold item that has to be binned because its about to go out of date or will be in-date but not needed when demand drops off a cliff after Christmas. They had a tough year with the cyber attack, are probably taking a cautious approach to managing their stock for a bit.
The Waitrose near us still had some nice veggie stuff this morning.

M&S has been shit for a while at veggie stuff. And this Christmas it's been abysmal.

I got a gorgeous looking nut roast in waitrose tho...

Last year we had Redefine Flank Steaks, which are suitable for vegans. They were so tasty and brilliant as part of a big Christmas Day roast lunch. Having the same this year and very pleased they were half price in Asda. Thank you Asda!

I think that the nut roasts available to pre-order were quite a lot bigger than the 2 portion ones found in the normal range - or at least that's what I found a couple of years ago.
I've found in the past that Lidl have a few nice looking veggie options in their freezer section.

You could pre-order special M&S Christmas veggie stuff, like we just did with our main meat bits.

Oops! Hadn't RTFT 😁

It’s easy enough to make your own mince pies. It’s not some shock horror that a very specific type of mince pie - something not eaten after a set date - has sold out in the approach to that set date.

Do you have a COOK near you OP? They do a delicious nut roast

Completely agree!!!!

Our local M&S is a small food hall only. They sometimes have biscuits and sometimes don’t. The only product I was aware they still stocked was a ready meal lasagne. I went in looking for the single serve PK Christmas puddings (my family don’t do Christmas pudding but I always get one for husband) and randomly saw, next to actual bacon, PL bacon. I’ve been veggie my whole life. I know it’s a me problem and everything is hygienic etc, but meat disgusts me. There’s no way I’m picking up something from the meat section!!!

Also, shop assistant told me they were not getting the PK Christmas puddings. Only bigger stores and closer to Christmas. It makes no sense! I have always bought the single-serve PK pudding there since they made it and it has sold out there every year too!!

Now try being vegetarian AND gluten free. 😁

Haven’t you seen the Christmas special episode of the Good life, circa 1974???
Tom: Your Christmas comes in a van!
Margo: It’s supposed to, Tom.

#fingers crossed

@ ManyPigeons -
It’s not that I can’t make my own mince pies - or indeed, the mincemeat to go in them for that matter - much more that if you have seasonal food, it seems to me a little ridiculous that it’s not available for the celebration for which it’s intended! Don’t even get me started on the display of cream eggs of many different sorts and Milky Bar Easter animals on display in B and M. (And one reason I buy mince pies when it’s just DH and me is so that I don’t eat too many!) It’s all part and parcel of the fact that Christmas these days seems to start ever earlier, and be all done and dusted by Boxing Day, when technically we should have until Jan 6th to be celebrating (and eating mince pies).

Me too! Sadly not freezable or I’d go and buy the last few.

I blame vegans.
I went for a meal yesterday and the only vegetarian option was cauliflower steak! £21 cauliflower steak.

M&S has awful vegetarian food. Charlie Bighams has stopped most of theirs as well.