Marks and Spencer’s Christmas food is a hotly anticipated release each year, with M&S fans keen to get their hands on the limited-edition goodies before they sell out. We think it’s fair to say that this year, more than ever, we’re all in need of some yuletide cheer.
The much-loved supermarket is well known for innovative products when it comes to seasonal specials, and the 2020 M&S Christmas range is no different. With a whole host of new quirky products, they really have thought of everything you could want to help make your celebrations this year super special (even if we’re all only allowed six people at the dinner table).
From gin and pre-mixed cocktails to Percy specials and stocking-filler sweeties – the iconic British shop is catering to all crowds with something for both big and little kids. In fact, the new Marks & Spencer Christmas range is so far reaching that there are items found in the foodhall that aren’t even edible. We’re talking about a pretty popular pig. Yep, Percy has been immortalised in soft toy form, which is perfect for the many fans of this squishy sweet.
Then, aside from all the trimmings and extra bits, you can of course count on Marks & Spencer to come up with the goods for the main event itself, because an M&S Christmas dinner has a pretty legendary status. From pre-ordering your turkey to picking out the carefully honed sides and sauces, you can find everything you need for your feast in 2020 at Marks & Spencer.
You might think a launch date of September is a little premature for M&S to release its festive range, but the timing comes from research undertaken by the supermarket. In its Christmas Trend Report for 2020 Marks & Spencer discovered that 48% of people are looking forward to celebrating the end of this difficult year. And in addition, due to Coronavirus, a third of shoppers have said they’ll be purchasing more food and gifts online this year.
“As a nation we’ve all been through a lot this year,” M&S Food’s managing director, Stuart Machin, said. “Our customers will want to celebrate Christmas and mark the end of the year with friends and family in the best way they can.”
In total the supermarket has so far launched 70 new products specially for the festivities that will be available to purchase from the end of September. Because we’re huge Christmas fans and get a little too excited by this kind of thing, we’ve rounded up the best Marks & Spencer food in the 2020 range, so you can choose the cream of the crop next time you’re picking up your groceries or shopping for M&S Christmas food on Ocado.
M&S Christmas light up gin
Of course, for us, the best of the best in the M&S 2020 Christmas range had to be the gin. If you’re a fan of this heritage British brand, you’ll know that last year’s clementine Christmas snow globe gin was a knockout, sell-out success. Well, this year the supermarket has upped its game one step further to give us the UK’s first light up gin which has edible gold leaf suspended in the liquid for a beautiful looking and tasting drink this festive season (G&T, anyone?). The outside of the bottle is decorated with frosty white-out scenes of little terrace houses or woodland creatures, and at just £18 a bottle we think this is a pretty good deal. There are also mini bottle bauble versions available, which are ideal for gifts.
Buy it: M&S Light-Up Snow Globe Clementine Gin Liqueur 70cl, £18, Ocado
M&S Christmas musical shortbread tins
Elsewhere in the Christmas line-up for M&S this year is a range of musical shortbread tins that would make really sweet gifts for loved ones. At £5 a pop they won’t break the bank and are stuffed with the supermarket’s signature all butter biscuits. The design comes in red, blue or gold and takes the form of a traditional Dutch-looking house made out of tin and embellished with drawn gold lines, with a miniature wreath even hanging on each of the front doors.
Buy it: M&S Shortbread Musical House Tin 230g, £5, Ocado
Kilo of Percy Pigs in embossed glass jar
For the little people in your life, this sweeter than sweet jar stuffed with perhaps M&S's most iconic product, percy pigs, could make the perfect little thing to pop under the tree come the 25th December. With an embossed glass design on the outside, the jar itself is pretty enough to keep long after the goodies inside have disappeared. At just £15, we can see this making an appearance in a number of homes this Christmas.
Buy it: M&S Percy Pig Sweety Jar 1kg, £15, Ocado
Star-studded sausage roll garland
Looking for a centrepiece but wanting something a little more unusual? This M&S star-studded sausage roll stack could be exactly what you're looking for. Let's be honest, who doesn't love a sausage roll? Well, this three-tiered number covered in Christmassy pastry stars, is a bit more special than your average one. Coming filled with beautifully seasoned pork sausage, this will give any buffet a bit of wow-factor.
Buy it: M&S Collection Christmas Sausage Rolls Garland 630g, £8, Ocado
Chicken doughnut dippers
Okay, so perhaps not the most orthodox of doughnuts but we're not complaining! These battered chicken breast rings will be a certainly be a conversation starter at any Christmas party. Obviously a doughnut isn't a doughnut without some kind of glaze and topping though, so these doughnuts come accompanied with a BBQ dipping sauce and waffle crumb. Now don't try to tell us that doesn't sound good...
Mushroom and camembert pie
Vegetarians out there, there is plenty on offer for you in this year's M&S Christmas range including this wonderful mushroom and camembert pie. Featuring roast parsnips and mushrooms in an ultra-creamy cheese sauce, all encased in vegan pastry, this pie is sure to go down a treat with your non-meat eating guests. Coming in at just £18, it's also a great cheap alternative to a traditional Christmas turkey.
Buy it: M&S Mushroom, Parsnip & Camembert Pie 975g, £18, Ocado
Christmas tree Colin the Caterpillar
Colin the Caterpillar has become somewhat of a legend among cakes, so it seems only fair that he's been given a special festive makeover. This year's Christmas-themed edition of the chocolate cake features a selection of chocolate gifts and decorations, and Colin is also wearing a santa hat. In our eyes, this can only be a good thing because it just means more chocolate to fight over.
Buy it: M&S Colin The Caterpillar Extremely Chocolatey Sponge Cake 665g, £10, Ocado
M&S Christmas dinner
There are two types of people in the world, those who buy a M&S Christmas dinner, and those who slave over everything from scratch. We know which camp we’re in. Marks & Spencer Christmas dinners give you loads of shortcuts and help ensure you’re not run ragged by the time Boxing Day comes around. This year the Christmas range includes plenty of vegan options like a Plant Kitchen root vegetable tarte tatin and veggie-packed sides, as well as show-stopping centrepieces like a rib of beef and pre-stuffed turkey. Starters include a creamy king prawn and lobster thermidor presented in scallop shells, while retro black forest gateau has been given a makeover to give us a cake with all the classic flavours of chocolate and cherries. The full range hasn’t been released yet, but as soon as it has been, we’ll pop our highlights here.
M&S Christmas turkey
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a turkey feast, and as you might expect the M&S turkeys are some of their most popular products come December. Marks & Spencer offer a whole host of options when it comes to their turkey – from whole birds and crowns through to fool proof prepared turkeys and even deboned legs. Once the exact turkey serves are announced by Marks & Spencer for 2020, we’ll let you know our pick of the best of the bunch.
Buy it: The M&S turkey range, various prices, Ocado
Chocolate and Orange Christmas pudding
Even for the most mature of palates, a Christmas pudding can sometimes just taste a bit too grown up even when smothered in brandy butter. However, that's not a problem this year thanks to M&S's chocolate and orange take on the classic. Costing just £12, there's also a surprise in store when you break into this pud - an oozing middle full of rich chocolate and orange sauce. What could be more Christmassy?
Buy it: M&S Collection Chocolate & Orange Pudding 700g, £12, Ocado
M&S food to order
The above range of Christmas dinner items are all from the M&S food to order range, which is popular with busy foodies for giving them great tasting, great-value food without any of the hassle of prepping it. This service allows you to ordered through Marks & Spencer's site for in-store collections from 22nd December.
M&S Christmas hampers
There’s nothing that says Christmas to us more than a festive hamper packed with treats we’d never usually allow ourselves to indulge in. This year the M&S Christmas hamper is stuffed with 13 of the shop’s favourite seasonal picks including the light up gin and a magnum of prosecco. While this makes the perfect present, it also makes a wonderful gift to yourself if you’re looking to try a few new things you might otherwise have skipped past on the shop floor.
M&S advent calendar
We’re not afraid to say that we are mad for an advent calendar and get pretty excited to see what people have thought up in a bid to win the imaginary accolade of the year’s best advent calendar. Marks & Spencer’s advent calendars have legendary status with the brand always coming up with something creative and fun for both kids and adults (as well as the sell-out beauty advent calendar they usually do). The 2020 M&S advent calendars have yet to be released, but we’ll update you here as soon as we know what the range is.
M&S food catalogue 2020
For traditionalists there’s no better way to browse the M&S food range than through the supermarket’s annual catalogue of treats it releases to share details of its Christmas food with fans of the brand. The shop is yet to release its catalogue for this year, but it’s generally available as both a PDF and a printed version, which is perfect for both people still shielding or those trying to get back out and about.
M&S Christmas food deliveries at Ocado
Some of the biggest supermarket news of this year has been that Ocado and Waitrose parted ways, while the former brought on M&S in the space that needed filled. This means that you can order your M&S Christmas food delivery this year through Ocado, and pick and choose the best of the seasonal range. The beauty of ordering your M&S Christmas food from Ocado is that you can pop other favourite brands in the trolly too, from Ocado’s other ranges. Some of our favourite things are the Natoora fruit and veggies and the French range, which allows you to purchase products typically only found on the continent – the perfect thing to treat yourself to for Christmas.
Looking for more festive treats? You might like our round up of the best chocolate advent calendars in the shops for 2020.