Would I be mad to do the big food shop at M&S, rather than Aldi?

[CharlotteSometimes1]

This will be the first time in 16 years that Christmas will be just us and our young adult dc and we’re all hoping for a chilled out time. I’ve always bought the food from Aldi/Tesco and cooked it all from scratch, but I’m wondering if I should make life easier by getting the lot from M&S, but I have questions. What are the portion sizes like? What’s the quality, will it taste great? I expect it’ll be more expensive, but will it be eye watering? Will it be bombed out and is there a good time to go? I’m happy to pay more for the convenience if it really is easier and tastes good.

We do M&S every year for most items. You can view a lot of the prices on Ocado as they stock M&S Christmas food (the stuff you find in the shops, not the pre order food). I’d say the portion sizes are fairly accurate.

Maybe mix n match? We’ve got the main items ordered, for taste and convenience (turkey crown, ham, chicken, nut roast) but when the supermarkets are selling all the veg for 8p, I’m happy to peel a few spuds, carrots and parsnips to roast.

Have you won the lottery?

Go early in the morning and you may find lots of yellow stickers! The only pre made Christmas stuff I have ever had were the pigs in blankets stuffing and puddings which were all great. My lot help out with making cauli cheese mash and the roasties but friends swear by M&S. The meat is always good too. Cut yourself some slack if you feel like it and enjoy.

I like Marks and Spencer at Christmas. I order their meat and have always been very happy. We mix between ham, beef and turkey. I still make my own roast potatoes but I have also bought pigs n blankets, cauliflower cheese and their pre prepared veg and not had any issues. Regardless of when you go next week, it will be busy. If you try and go for opening hopefully you will have a good selection and be in and out quickly.

I don’t generally find marks and Spencer not that much more expensive than Aldi for usual shopping. Christmas will probably be different though. Their quality is far superior.

It's a question if individual taste really.

Some ready made foods just don't match up to home made. But unless you try you'll never know.

I remember thinking myself fortunate when getting my hands on one of the Heston Blumenthal Waitrose clementine Christmas puddings, what a disappointment.

Not Aldi but veg from Lidl is mere pennys surely a sprout from Lidl is the same as M&S?

TBH I can never tell the difference. I think in a blind taste test most folks would be the same.

I mix and match, but at Christmas yes a lot of it will be M&S. Bloody love their pigs in blankets! Their veg tends to be nicer and lasts longer too.

Thanks everyone, I think I’ll go early and if the cost of things sticks in my throat then I’ll hot foot it to Aldi.

Ready made never tastes as good as home cooked

I’ve started to get my fruit and veg from M&S as it is so much nicer

Only if you’re a decent cook! 🤣 I am not, unfortunately!

We do our Christmas food shop in marks every year.

Lovely food, minimal effort and minimal clearing up afterwards. Win win

I actually don’t find M&S ready meals any better than Morrisons and MUCH more expensive. I still sometimes buy them and I’m disappointed every time. I never learn!

We had an early Christmas lunch as we are away for the actual day. Tesco’s finest was actually very tasty as far as ready made goes

I find Tesco ridiculously expensive & dreadful quality, so would rather pay a little extra for M&S quality.

Aldi is a different kettle of fish though. Excellent quality & lower price. But an absolute bun fight in store at this time of year.

If you can afford it, go M&S.

In the past, I’ve bought the bird, stuffing (several sorts), and pigs in blankets, plus extra fresh gravy from M&S.

Make my own cauliflower cheese, and get veg from the farm shop.

It’s not as expensive as you’d think, and you can just bung stuff in the oven. We usually get a big chicken because nobody really likes turkey/it’s a massive faff to keep it moist/ we like going for a big walk in the morning.

We always buy the majority of our christmas day food from m & s - good quality and value for money as it makes the day so much easier.

Nah, should be fine, as long as you remortgage your home to pay for it.

I would never do the whole food shop there. The farcical price of their beef wellington was enough to put me off that! Maybe a few bits and bobs of luxury items, but I would get most of it from Aldi. (Well, personally if I had a choice I would mix and match between Iceland, Lidl, Aldi, and Morrisons, then get a handful of items from M & S.)

I get my turkey £60 from M&S, I don’t like their pigs in blankets. I will be getting veg from Tesco, the really cheap ones, 3 men and myself, they eat absolutely everything.

Agree with others it is a mixed question. fresh from elsewhere cook from scratch versus marks semi prepared.

If you usually cook from scratch, but are looking for more prepared stuff. Be that party items or a Christmas dinner, the deluxe or finest range is just as good.

Aldi and Lidl tend to have exactly the same range as m and s budget and luxury but cheaper.

We do ours in markies, the quality is always good, but no it’s not cheap.

We've always bought everything pre prepared from m and s for at least 15-20 years! We get a meat hamper from the butchers but everything else is m and s. Quality is great.

We use ocado for our weekly shop and find it pretty reasonable, they price match to Tesco aswell on some items so I fairly often get a coupon for the difference, probably one a month