Bloody M&S!

[twobabiesandapup]

Have M&S always had a £50 minimum for Christmas food to order?! I have been excitedly waiting for their range to become available which it has done today, and I have my eye on their humongous bacon and stuffing pork pie. It’s the only thing I want to buy as I’ve already ordered all my Christmas food to order from Sainsbury’s but it won’t let me check out because I haven’t reached the £50 minimum order value 😭 have they always done this or is it a new thing? Perhaps I’ve always just spent over and not noticed it but the devastation is real, oh the pork pie that I will not have 😔

Ok, so I have spent approx £300 at M&S + Sainsbury's but it is for 12+ on xmas day and 8 on boxing day. Everything else will come from Sainsbury's and I will use up my Nectar Points for that plus I add an item per week to normal shopping. We're having a celebratory christmas due to the fact that we all had a shite time last year and I nearly died in hospital on xmas day - obs keeping fingers crossed that a customer at work doesn't give me influenza this year 😆
I have also made a donation to our local food bank to pay for 5 xmas dinners in a box which they're making up for local family's in distress.

But they do, well most of it anyway. We always get the pannacotta star from Morrisons and just buy it in the shop without ordering it, because its pretty much the only thing from the catalogue we want.

Plus a lot of the portions aren't huge, so can be a meal for 4 plus leftovers,or you can freeze things.

The pannacotta star says it serves 8, but it is barely more than a mouthful so it's fine for 2 of us to have a decent portion twice.

The M&S food does look nice but there are only 3 of us and a lot of it is in large amounts.

It’s been £50 the last couple of years at least.

The organic Turkey has shrunk again to 3.5 kg. 4.5kg last year and in 2022 you could order a variety of sizes including 5.5kg. A tiny organic turkey is useless. It was a treat using saved up reward vouchers. The flavour and meat texture was always good. I know avian flu etc have devastated flocks but the online Turkeys for M&S are ! this year. £150 for a 4.5kg traditional hung bronze Turkey! I can go to a nearby farm and every Turkey is 10 day hung for a lot less. It implies their Collections free range bronze turkeys are rushed through.
Once again no decorated Madeira based Christmas cake.

If I wait 21st October (next payday), do you think the slots will be taken or is that still plenty of time?

Ooh I don’t think I’d risk it tbh, I know with Sainsbury’s loads of their stuff always sells out pretty far in advance. If it helps, you only pay the £50 deposit when you go through the checkout and the rest you pay on collection

I wasn't very impressed with the selection so won't be ordering. And it's not even a cost thing, we often buy from COOK (and probably will again this year.) I just think the offering seemed worse.

I was also disappointed that a lot of their turkey crowns were already slow cooked so you can't reheat them. Hot leftover Christmas dinner sandwiches are the best bit of December!

They were already limited when I booked mine yesterday I’ve ended up going to a less convenient one

Oh gosh I didn’t realise that about the turkey crowns, I’m glad I got mine from Sainsbury’s now! I’ve heard a lot of people mention COOK, I always thought it was over the top expensive but maybe I’ll check it out

They do have stuff in store though . I have deliberately not ordered any deserts this year as i always end up going in store and seeing ones I like more that are not so big.

in fact I have not ordered anything form M&S this year as nothing appealed and the £50 minimum put me off. I don’t buy a turkey as just get a chicken and sausages etc I get from butcher.

I have ordered some bits from sainsburys - they seem to have better choice each year and it’s not so expensively priced.

How did you do an Ocado Christmas shop? I can’t find how to book a slot beyond 20 something of October…

He was very sweet last year. Too sweet.

Also thought it was a very limited range this year. I expected a wider choice.

There's a separate tab for Christmas deliveries. They have a £90 minimum order.

I ended up ordering my turkey from Sainsburys yesterday too. I thought the free range turkey crowns with sourdough stuffing seemed pretty reasonably priced! It'll be my first time ordering from Sainsbury's for Christmas so will see what it's like but they had some nice sounding items. I got the lobster Thermidor crumpets and one of the desserts too.

COOK is definitely expensive but I wouldn't say it's any different to the M&S prices. I think their stuffing balls and roast potatoes are particularly good. I will usually make my own roasties for Christmas Day but always stock up on the COOK ones to keep in the freezer for quick dinners another time.

They release the slots in different places in dribs and drabs over the next few weeks.