With less than two weeks until Christmas Day, supermarket aisles up and down the country are filled with festive treats to tempt everyone's tastebuds.
But while some have had their premium Christmas offering in for weeks already - we saw our first M&S party food hit shelves in late October - fans of retailer Lidl know the company, which prides itself on a varied and constantly changing range of weekly special products to go alongside its staples, bring the bulk of their festive fare to stores in early December.
And, in the interests of science, it seemed only right to taste test their Christmas range in readiness for the big day - in part with items I tried at a special event hosted by the firm and part by the much less glamorous method of 'going to my local store and doing my shopping.'
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Having already taste tested a lot of M&S' Christmas goodies for this year - you can read my full round-up of recommendations of their must-have foodie treats here - I had already mentally put together a lot of my food shop list for Christmas.
The plan was Tesco for most things but M&S for a few key centre piece or luxurious bits including Christmas Day dessert (hello ice-skating Colin the Caterpillar ) and an extensive cheeseboard.
Well, I now need to make more room in the fridge because Lidl is now most definitely on the 'good list' at my house this Christmas.
While Lidl is close enough that I pop in every so often, it's not usually somewhere I do my weekly shop because I prefer to either click and collect or get it delivered, neither of which are currently available from the budget retailer.
My main trips to Lidl are for budget-friendly wine and - once I get the announcement from my Lidl superfan Dad on the family Whatsapp group - for Greek Week, when the store brings in everything from stuffed vine leaves and premium baklava to feta and spinach-packed filo Spanakopita, all of which brings great family rejoicing and a considerable amount of stockpiling.
So what has Lidl got to tempt a non-regular shopper to head through their doors this Christmas? The answer is a lot . Read on for my tried and tested round up of some of the best - a lot of which I've already nipped to my local store to pick up ready for our celebrations.
The cheeseboard to end all cheeseboards
I know. For many people Christmas is about turkey and all the trimmings or maybe the mince pies, puds and other sweet treats. But in my house it is all about the cheese, bread and - at a push - chutneys and pickles.
I was blown away by the wide range of delicious cheeses available at Lidl.
Their Deluxe branded French cheeses come in at £3.29 a pack and include Comte and a Goat Camembert that I'd never tried before but is definitely top of wishlist now, as well as a St Felicien and a D'Affinois which makes a change from Stilton for fans of blue cheese.
Meanwhile, if you prefer your stilton blended with other fruit there's several unusual options alongside the now-staple White Stilton with Apricot - I loved the White Stilton with Seasonal Fruits and Brandy, £2.49 for 220g, which added a little kick from the booze to the creamy smoothness of the stilton.
Fans of baked cheese - and really, what's not to love? - have plenty of options starting from as little £3.29, with baking camemberts accompanied by everything from cranberry to chorizo.
My favourite was the one drizzled with honey and truffle.
Admittedly on paper it sounds a bit strange but the warm, tangy cheese paired with a slight earthiness of truffle and the sweetness of honey was an unusual and delicious combination I can't wait to have again as part of my Boxing Day tea.
There are plenty of festive shaped waxed truckles of cheese from £2.79 which is the ideal way to get staples like cheddar on your board, in star or Christmas tree shapes.
But for the ultimate in tabletop wow factor I loved Neufchatel, another cheese that was new to me. With a rind that makes it look a bit like a cross between brie and camembert, the heart-shaped cheese was traditionally given by young women to their suitors at holiday festivals as a way of showing their affection.
The soft, spreadable cheese has a similar depth of flavour to camembert but a runnier consistency and was absolutely delicious.
What I'm swapping: Of all the things on my festive food shop list this is the biggest change. Normally, with one eye on my food budget, I buy one of those Christmas packs where you get five standard cheeses in a box and then top it up with a couple of more unusual pricier options. I've realised I can head into Lidl with £15 and assemble a spectacular cheese board picking out all my favourites and leaving behind anything that's usually left languishing in the fridge until new year: Red Leicester, I'm sorry, I'm looking at you.
Buffet table blinders
If cheese isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there are plenty of other buffet-friendly options available from Lidl in store now, with more coming in over the next week or so.
Many options are frozen, making them perfect for grabbing out for any impromptu guests and meaning you needn’t worry about over-catering as you can make the call in the moment on how much you need to serve.
The ever-popular prawn ring with dipping chilli sauce is back for another year. At £3.69 I was a bit dubious that for that price the prawns wouldn't be that good. But, while the prawns were relatively small, they were succulent and enjoyed by everyone from age six to 72 sitting round the table.
Also popular were the bigger, crispier, tempura king prawns, cooked in the oven and £1.99 for 12 - considerably less than equivalents we've had from Tesco or M&S which looked and tasted similar but were more than double the price.
Meanwhile if you're worried about catering for vegans, the firm's award-winning No Duck Spring Rolls are back (£1.49 for a pack of ten) and the crispy cylinders - packed with jackfruit, vegetables and aromatic spices - were a hit with meat eaters and non-meat eaters alike.
Away from the oven one of the more unusual options that I especially liked for how stunning it looked on the table was the Deluxe Scottish smoked salmon fillet with a gold dusting. Who doesn't need a bit of bling at Christmas?
Even crisps have had a festive facelift with sharing bag sized options of everything from Lobster Cocktail to Pigs in Blanket flavour versions available at 99p per 150g bag.
The French brie and cranberry ones are currently the most popular choice in our house.
What I'm swapping: Crispy tempura prawns and chicken satay and yakitori skewers are always popular party food in our house. With them currently coming in between £4.50 and £5.50 a pack at M&S (albeit with the firm's usual four for the price of three promotion) but just £1.99 to £2.19 a box at Lidl this is a big saving and I'm not convinced my guests would notice enough of a difference for the premium to be worth it, even with my obsession of filling the freezer with M&S yellow labels.
Dreamy desserts
Move over Colin the Caterpillar, I'm afraid you have competition.
As well as the traditional German-style sweet treats Lidl is famous for - from marzipan and stollen bites to gingerbread houses, cute Lebkuchen heart cookies and nut brittles - there are some stunning dessert options for people wanting to step away from the usual pudding / mince pie combos this Christmas.
The most stunning and tempting of all is a bargain at just £8.99 and will be on our table on Christmas Day.
The pretty dark chocolate and salted caramel cottage comes with a chocolate sauce which you warm and then pour through the chimney.
Set on a chocolate cookie base, the cottage is filled with layers of white chocolate mousse, salted caramel sauce and white chocolate snowballs, making a decadent and moreish dessert with real wow factor for the price.
You should be able to find it now in the freezer aisle.
If you want something a little bit lighter but with the similar show-stopping element, the snowflake dessert comes with a similar warm pouring sauce and at the point the chocolate melts the cake it even divides it into individual portions.
Back in the fridge section, the Deluxe fresh macarons (£3.49) were not only a big hit with all ages in the Flanders house but have been stockpiled in readiness to be taken along to relatives we're visiting over the festive period along with a bottle of wine.
They are macarons worthy of Bake Off, crunchy and chewy with delicious centres. We especially love the non-fruit selection which has pistachio, coffee and vanilla macarons that look and taste worthy of the finest French patisserie.
Don't worry though, if you are more of a traditionalist there are still plenty of Christmas cake, mince pie and pudding options including gluten and dairy free versions and varying sizes from mini single-portions up to giant group sized ones.
There are also some quirky and unusual versions of the classics - if you're a fan of florentines then the Florentine Festive Tarts (£2.29) are less heavy than mince pies but have a similar flavour with a bit of a nuttier crunch.
My absolute favourite though as someone who loves all things ginger is the Deluxe All Butter Gingerbread Mince Pies (£2.49 for a pack of six) which have a lovely spice that stops just short of fiery and are particularly lovely served warm alongside a strong coffee, as I have tested. Repeatedly.
What I'm swapping: Not strictly a swap as I think my six- and eight-year-old would stage a revolution if Colin was relegated completely for the festive season. But the salted caramel cottage is definitely going to be pride of place too - they loved watching the chocolate poured, although the mousse was a bigger hit with grown ups in the end. Elsewhere, I have no intention of eating any mince pies this holiday that aren't made of gingerbread. Genuine game changer for me.
Tasty tipples
Lidl has a reputation for high quality but reasonably priced wine and this Christmas there are plenty of options whether you want to splurge on Chateauneuf du Pape (£14.99) or festive fizz with a £13.99 magnum of prosecco or spend £6 and get a solid, tasty red without breaking the budget.
I tried various wines available at Lidl this Christmas and while the smooth, fruity flavour of the Chateauneuf du Pape was worthy of its prestigious reputation it didn't feel twice as nice as some of Lidl's other full-bodied reds with friendlier price tags.
My recommendations - and what I've bought for Christmas for us to drink - are the Chianti Riserva, standard Chianti, Cepa Lebrel Rioja Reserva and Bordeaux Superior. All around the £6 mark and punching well above that price point in flavour and with none of the acidity you can sometimes get from lower-priced wines.
While we tend to be a household of red drinkers at the best of times, and particularly in winter, there were some white options that almost turned me to the light side.
The white wine I fell in love with when I tasted it but haven't seen drop in my local Lidl - yet - is not necessarily an accompaniment for a main meal but is an ideal to go with pudding.
Ice wine is a kind of dessert wine produced using grapes that have frozen while growing on the vine. The cold means that sugar in the growing grapes doesn't freeze, but water content in the fruit does, making for a more concentrated and sweeter grape juice to develop.
It is very sweet but utterly delicious. In recent years Lidl has sold several Canadian ice wines, and this year's version, priced at £13.99 is out in stores now - although it hasn't yet made it to mine.
If you're looking for a more traditional white, I loved the crisp dryness of the Italian Gavi and was genuinely mind-boggled when I found out it was on offer at just £4.99 a bottle when I'd seen Tesco's version on offer for £9 during my weekly shop.
The other big alcohol bargain this Christmas is Lidl's Baileys dupe. This classic Irish Cream is £7.99 for a 70cl bottle and while with some shopping around you might be able to find a bottle of Baileys for around the £10 mark this is a solid alternative perfect for sipping in front of the Christmas tree.
What I'm swapping: I've definitely decided I'm not spending more than £6 a bottle on wine this year and, while I'm not sure I'd have been brave enough to make that decision if I hadn't tasted them beforehand, Lidl is the perfect place to stick to that - ice wine aside.
As someone for whom Baileys is a Christmas essential I was surprised how, once it had an ice cube in it, Lidl's duped tasted virtually identical. I'd certainly be happy enough to swap it.
The ultimate Christmas dinner
With so many shops keen for customers to pre-order their birds for the big day, Lidl proudly proclaims that its free range British turkeys will arrive in store from December 19 with no need for any kind of pre-booking.
This is perfect if you're not sure how many people you're catering for until nearer the time, or suddenly have a burning urge to cook something different for the big day.
I was given a chance to taste test not just the turkey but also some of the other options available for people bored of the bird, whether they were meat-free eaters or simply looking for something a bit different for Christmas Day.
As well as whole turkeys and turkey crowns, the supermarket is offering a ludicrous amount of other options for the big day.
Available in store is venison, two and three-bird roasts, easy carve duck, ham joints, whole legs of British lamb, Dry Aged Beef Chateaubriand, a Deluxe Gammon Joint basted with mulled wine or sugar baked, lobster tails, sea bass, a large chicken, leek and bacon sharing pie and a host of accompaniments and side dishes ranging from pigs in blankets to brussels sprout gratin (one of the few things I was still unconvinced about).
Veggie and vegan options include two different flavours of nut roast - hazelnut, cashew and cranberry or barley, mushroom and almond and various pies, Wellingtons and even an impressive looking vegan sausage and cranberry wreath.
Everything on my mini-tasting plate was delicious. I was particularly surprised by the duck which was moist and flavourful without being fatty and definitely some of the nicest duck I've ever eaten, which is high praise indeed as I'm not usually much of a fan.
If I was picking it to cook at home purely for me then the gammon joint with crackling would definitely be my top choice, although the rest of the family aren't fans so I'd probably be eating it until Easter.
What I'm swapping: I know, I'm a chicken about turkey but having ordered a bird big enough for ten when the click and collect slots opened in October I'm not brave enough to cancel it and wing it with a trip in store in the run up to Christmas, even though it'll end up costing me more.
I salute those with nerves of steel who have decided to make the swap to save some money or because genuinely they're laid back enough to enjoy one of a host of different main options on the big day.
I just know I stress enough about Christmas without suddenly finding myself lying in bed at night worrying we're going to end up with a Turducken for ten because I didn't do my shopping in time.
That said, having seen legs of lamb in store already this week from £18 I'm going to pick up one of those even if it stays in the freezer for a while while we eat the rest of the leftovers.
Final verdict
Like many families, we have been preparing for Christmas with one eye on how to make things feel special with little bits of luxury in terms of food and drink without it costing a fortune.
Initially I'd seen that as doing my regular Tesco shop but buying a few premium, centrepiece-type bits elsewhere - mainly at M&S - while hosting family and friends.
Having taste tested the Lidl range I've rewritten my Christmas food shop list and, while it involves a bit more running about - the fact I can't click and collect the shopping is a minor inconvenience - it definitely feels worth the effort.
Not only will the swaps help me save money this Christmas, but it also brings to the table some delicious and unusual treats unlike anything I've seen elsewhere so far this year.
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