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.

Cant answer your question but I’m vegetarian and wouldn’t eat a nut roast of if I hadn’t eaten for a week. Maybe people aren’t buying plant based food that much anymore as they realise it’s over processed c**p and M&S just don’t expect to sell large amounts.

In my experience,M and S always vastly underestimate how popular certain items will be. So many times over the past few years I've tried unsuccessfully to get certain items near Christmas,only to be told they have sold out. Very poor planning on their part,I think,if the shop assistant told you they could have sold 20 times the amount that they did! I've given up trying to get anything from M and S in the few days before Christmas now.

Yes same thing via Ocado too

Thanks OP
what a great idea

Put an order in like the rest of us so we make sure we get our Xmas food ?

Smug, much?

You’re the one who’s a very poor planner. Why on earth would you leave getting your food for Christmas a few days before Christmas from one of the country’s most popular food retailers?

eat by dates maybe??

@MandSLetDownIt’s just one more dish! Hardly that difficult ! I’ve not seen them in my local store and no empty holes wheel they should be either. I don’t see M&S as a substitute for cooking a main meal on Christmas Day. I suggest you buy early next year and freeze it!

Don’t you mean Eat Me Dates?

@DrPrunesqualer I avert my eyes in our M & S too, the vacuum packed meat is such a horrible colour, dark burgundy, gives me the creeps and depresses me and I can never forget that butchers shop smell from my childhood. I could smell it even walking past, horrible smell, you are probably much younger than me, there were lots of butchers shops when I was a child. At least we don’t have those anymore.

wow there are some miserable toads on this thread. Hope you stand and all the upturned Lego. Merry Christmas one and all!

M&S also sold out of its Big Mix chocs at the start of last week, bloody ages before Christmas and before our big Christmas shop. We checked and they had sold out at every M&S. Piss poor, they could have sold tons more if they had stock.

Another one suggesting people take a look at Cook for next time. Because it's frozen you can buy it weeks ahead and the quality is excellent.

Errr, it’s for my main!

Bully for you for not imagining M&S instead of a home cooked meal. The rest of my dinner is home cooked, the nut roast is only for me and I actually really love the M&S one thank you. Gosh, I must have failed as a human to consider M&S. Must do better next year 🙄.

we have been trying since the 19th when they in theory come in to stock. But by each evening they are gone (have to work during the day so cannot try earlier in the day).

actually didn’t know you could pre-order one. I do now know this for next year.

but can you actually believe that despite starting a thread about it, it hasn’t ruined my Christmas - I have all my family together after a challenging year so it’s a miracle in itself…plenty of food on the table…generally very grateful for my lot.

Meh, we had the Cook mushroom wellington last night and it certainly wasn’t worth the £15 we paid -not impressed. I’ve been more impressed with M&S veggie offerings generally, though I hate the trend for over processed vegan food instead of vetetable based vegetarian food (palm oil instead of butter, anyone).

And M&S would rather sell out than have loads left over, what with being a business that wants to make a profit…

This. I only go there once or twice a year for special occasions. 5p bags of veg are a draw at Aldi.

No, not this.

https://www.fruitnet.com/fresh-produce-journal/mands-food-sales-rise-as-cyber-attack-decimates-profits/269553.article

M&S are a traditional brand, not very modern, they simply have not cottoned on yet that many households have at least 1 vegan or vegetarian to cater for

for future reference , Riverford do an amazing nut roast and also a veg delivery on the 21st …

But plenty of people still do. Our food hall is always very busy. I honestly don’t mean this to sound patronising (but aware it does) - I don’t think their target market or customer base is those who find 5p bags of veg at Aldi a draw…

Meh to you, too. Merry Christmas.

I think it’s seen as very pro Israel by people that matters to, very expensive ready meal type shopping for people who might not have quite so much spare cash to burn on someone else cutting up their cauliflower steaks or wrapping something in pastry, very heavy on packaging for those who are conscious of limited resources and just a bit boring to shop in. Everywhere is busy in Christmas week but ours is fairly empty compared to a few years ago otherwise.
To be honest I don’t shop there just because I find their food very sweet. I remember loving going with my Granny as a kid though.

It is a bit boring to shop in, but I can’t think of anywhere that sells food that’s in the slightest bit exciting to shop in…maybe Fortnum and Mason’s?

Oh I don’t know. I suppose if you find cooking and eating boring that’s true but for me Waitrose (which is too far for me as I’m rural) can be quite fun to shop at just because they stock a lot of food that pulls you out of a menu rut. Farm shops often have a sort of leafy abundance that is tempting. Etc etc. I find M&S a bit uninspiring, though to be fair I have a very large family and it caters for singles or a few more type cooking.

@MandSLetDown this nut roast is delicious (says vegetarian DD3 who insisted I make it again this year) and really simple to make: