Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that this is not stuffing

79 replies

Snoff · 27/12/2025 20:27

I picked up a load of Christmassy bits from the reduced section at Co-Op, to join the selection of indulgent leftovers destined for tonight's dinner. Among them was a ready-to-bake foil tray of 'Pork, Cranberry and Chestnut stuffing' from the fancy range (this thing). I thought it looked a bit un-stuffingy when I put it in the oven, but was not prepared for it to come out looking like I'd just baked a block of mince whole. It hissed and oozed fat when cut. I then belatedly read the ingredients and learned it's 65% pork (!) while breadcrumbs do not feature on the ingredients list at all. I thought perhaps it was really meant to be actually used to stuff a turkey, but there are no instructions for doing that - you're supposed to just bake it and eat it. Which no one did in this house because it tasted like a shit sausage.

AIBU?
YABU: this concoction that is 65% pork and 0% breadcrumb that that is not meant to be stuffed into anything is stuffing
YANBU: this is not stuffing, it is just a huge, weird, slab-shaped sausage

...also feel free to post about any festive supermarket food you bought that was weird/nasty/not what you expected.

OP posts:
couldthisbe2501 · 27/12/2025 21:46

MaggieFS · 27/12/2025 21:01

I agree, but I also can’t be arsed to make my own from scratch. And all the ‘fresh’ stuffing has sausagement. Is there any other easy way to get sage & onion stuffing? (And tbh, the Paxi is still a PITA to make so ‘easy’ is relative’.

Show quote history

I make the one out of Jamie Oliver’s Christmas book for special occasions, it’s a bit of a faff but it’s absolutely gorgeous. That’s done with minced pork shoulder and peaches with a shit load of sage and the, apparently, all important breadcrumbs!

soupyspoon · 27/12/2025 21:50

GanninHyem · 27/12/2025 21:30

"Quivering"? It's bloody sausage meat stuffing not a haunted Victorian pudding. If your gold standard is Paxo, a product whose main flavour is nostalgia and regret, then yes, I can see why actual meat feels confrontational.

Edited

Oh I couldnt quite place it, but you're right, its the flavour of regret.

soupyspoon · 27/12/2025 21:52

mindutopia · 27/12/2025 21:33

You roll it into balls and bake…like you would any other stuffing. It’s delicious! You don’t just slop the whole brick of it in the oven.

Err yes you do.

I cooked one very similar this evening from Aldi.

Original poster
Snoff · 27/12/2025 21:57

GanninHyem · 27/12/2025 21:30

"Quivering"? It's bloody sausage meat stuffing not a haunted Victorian pudding. If your gold standard is Paxo, a product whose main flavour is nostalgia and regret, then yes, I can see why actual meat feels confrontational.

Edited

I have not said anything about Paxo, merely implied I would prefer it. But then, I would prefer many, many things to this.

To be clear, I wouldn't kick Paxo off my plate, but it is by no means a gold-standard. It is, however, stuffing.

OP posts:
Glitchymn1 · 27/12/2025 21:59

I bought it by accident- bloody disgusting!

Original poster
Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:02

couldthisbe2501 · 27/12/2025 21:46

I make the one out of Jamie Oliver’s Christmas book for special occasions, it’s a bit of a faff but it’s absolutely gorgeous. That’s done with minced pork shoulder and peaches with a shit load of sage and the, apparently, all important breadcrumbs!

Show quote history

All Important Breadcrumbs, yes. Jamie knows.

OP posts:
GlitzAndGigglesx · 27/12/2025 22:05

I tried sausage meat stuffing on Christmas day and reluctantly swallowed it. I'm a meat eater but I prefer the boxed powdery shit

FancyCatSlave · 27/12/2025 22:07

Oh that’s my favourite sort. We buy lots of extra sausagemeat stuffing slabs at Xmas and eat it in chunks - not or cold.

Not in the last healthy but delicious. I don’t like breadcrumb stuffing much although did eat it when I was vegetarian.

cardibach · 27/12/2025 22:09

Snoff · 27/12/2025 20:42

I have encountered birds stuffed with sausagemeat. But I'd never consider sausagemeat stuffing unless it's stuffed. Do you really eat this stuff on it's own? Not as a little cross section in a slice of turkey, but just a quivering, oily chunk?

It doesn’t quiver and it’s not oily. At least not the one I make. Yes, it goes in the neck of the bird but I also make balls of it. Delicious.

cardibach · 27/12/2025 22:10

Snoff · 27/12/2025 20:43

I would have been much, much happier with something made from a bag of sage flavoured dust.

Show quote history

That’s just odd

Original poster
Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:12

Glitchymn1 · 27/12/2025 21:59

I bought it by accident- bloody disgusting!

THANK YOU. I mean, I'm sorry it happened to you, but I'm comforted to hear I'm not the only one who fell for this.

I hope this thing didn't make it to your Christmas table, Glitchymn1, or that you had some back-up stuffing somehow. Horrible thing to happen.

OP posts:
cardibach · 27/12/2025 22:13

MaggieFS · 27/12/2025 21:01

I agree, but I also can’t be arsed to make my own from scratch. And all the ‘fresh’ stuffing has sausagement. Is there any other easy way to get sage & onion stuffing? (And tbh, the Paxi is still a PITA to make so ‘easy’ is relative’.

Show quote history

Paxo is made by stirring water into the dust, leaving to stand for a bit and then putting it in the oven. Which bit is a PITA?
Tastes crap so I don’t bother, but it’s easy…

Original poster
Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:14

cardibach · 27/12/2025 22:10

That’s just odd

Show quote history

I dare you: buy the Co-Op stuffing, cook according to instructions, eat it, and then report back. You may have different feelings about sage-flavoured dust.

OP posts:
RedRiverShore6 · 27/12/2025 22:15

We had the M&S one for Christmas dinner, I thought it was really nice but I didn't stuff the bird with it, I just put it in the oven for half hour

Clafoutie · 27/12/2025 22:15

I am enjoying this thread!

PrincessOfPreschool · 27/12/2025 22:16

I looked for chestnut stuffing everywhere. No co-ops near me unfortunately.

But yes, YABU not to realise the sausage meat stuffing in the fridge is different to breadcrumb stuffing which you usually just pour hot water on. I love both so I make both.

cardibach · 27/12/2025 22:18

Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:14

I dare you: buy the Co-Op stuffing, cook according to instructions, eat it, and then report back. You may have different feelings about sage-flavoured dust.

Show quote history

I don’t buy ready made pork stuffing so the comparison would be off. I’ve not suggested that pack is great, just that sausage meat stuffing is great. Preferring dust to home made sausage meat stuffing is just odd.

Original poster
Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:19

Thank you for the discussion, everyone. I don't feel I have exhausted the topic, but it is time for me to go to bed.

The poll currently stands at 69% YABU so I suppose I must accept that this upsetting meat substance is what some people actually mean when they say 'stuffing'. I don't think that's right, but I least I know.

OP posts:
nomas · 27/12/2025 22:21

Snoff · 27/12/2025 22:19

Thank you for the discussion, everyone. I don't feel I have exhausted the topic, but it is time for me to go to bed.

The poll currently stands at 69% YABU so I suppose I must accept that this upsetting meat substance is what some people actually mean when they say 'stuffing'. I don't think that's right, but I least I know.

Don’t worry, it’s a load of baloney here sometimes 🤣

soupyspoon · 27/12/2025 22:22

nomas · 27/12/2025 22:21

Don’t worry, it’s a load of baloney here sometimes 🤣

Show quote history

Oh god, dont start with other meat products. OP is trying to come to terms with slab stuffing at the moment.

BlackCat14 · 27/12/2025 22:28

Snoff · 27/12/2025 20:43

I would have been much, much happier with something made from a bag of sage flavoured dust.

Show quote history

I’m with you! Give me Paxo dust over that any day!

Oldandgreyer · 27/12/2025 22:30

We had something similar. (Apple and sage)It was delicious. So delicious my son ate the remainder on his sandwich the next lunchtime.

Pork sausage meat is available in a tube to make your own

Worralorra · 27/12/2025 22:34

The chestnuts are the more traditional (and more delicious/luxurious) ingredients that breadcrumbs have replaced, as a cheaper alternative - introduced, I believe, during WWII rationing…
Your expectations have been well and truly “managed”!

ManyPigeons · 27/12/2025 22:37

Yes my family have served similar before. It’s basically sausage meat. I prefer paxo.

Cautiouswalrus · 27/12/2025 22:41

I don’t like it at all. Got some yellow stickered stuffing balls on Christmas eve. My kids asked curiously why I’d served a side dish of ikea meatballs. Nothing stuffingish about them.