A three-course sandwich, polar bear buns and a pudding you can pour. We’ve been through the supermarket Christmas ranges so you don’t have to.
It’s October. And the supermarkets have already declared Christmas.
We’ve been through this year’s festive ranges so you don’t have to. Some of it sounds delicious. Some of it sounds like a dare.
Three courses, one sandwich
The prize for ambition goes to Morrisons. Its Festive Triple Sandwich squeezes a whole Christmas dinner between the bread.
Layer one is the starter: prawn cocktail with Marie Rose sauce. Layer two is the main: chicken with cranberry chutney and stuffing mayo. Layer three is the cheeseboard: Wensleydale and cranberry, real ale chutney and mature cheddar.
It arrives in stores on 16 November. Nobody has told us which end you’re meant to start from.
The best name of the year
M&S has brought back its pigs-in-blankets sandwich and squeezed even more brie into its brie and grape. But our favourite is a plant-based wrap called the Butternut Believe It’s Christmas. It’s out from 28 October. We’d buy it for the name alone.
Polar bears and Negronis
Waitrose has more than 380 new Christmas products this year. Among them are handmade Polar Bear Bao Buns, Negroni-inspired olives, Spicy Marg olives, and pistachio and sour cherry mince pies.
Their research says 48% of us think retro classics are making a comeback. Prawn cocktail, you never really went away.
Pudding you can pour
At Sainsbury’s, you’ll find a jaffa cake-flavoured rum liqueur and a Christmas pudding-flavoured cream liqueur. For the truly committed, there’s also a four-tier cheese tower that weighs 1.7kg. That’s more than a bag of flour.
What it will cost
VoucherCodes thinks Christmas dinner will cost about £52.30 a head this year, or just over £60 in London.
Christmas dinner, Zone 18 style
Here’s the thing. While we debate sandwich layers, children in Guatemala City have a Christmas dinner of any kind as a gift.
Zone 18 is one of the hardest places in the city to grow up. Every week, our partners at Go Guatemala make sure children from more than 100 families start the day with breakfast. Last Christmas, thanks to money raised on Radio Christmas, more than 200 people sat down together for Christmas dinner.
So here’s our challenge. Whatever you pay for your festive sandwich this year, would you match it with a donation? Every penny goes straight to the projects in Central America that help over 800 children every week.
Radio Christmas goes live on 1 December. Tune in and tell us the strangest thing you’ll be eating this Christmas.