While some Grinches might feel it's a bit early for Christmas food to be out in supermarkets, the last couple of weeks has seen more and more festive food hitting the shelves including at M&S.
The store is unapologetically bringing Christmas cheer out early this year, with some of its Christmas ranges dropping in store as early as late September and their Christmas food collection system going live last week - much earlier than usual - meaning shoppers wanting to secure a good slot to pick up their their turkey and other pre-ordered festive favourites can already book Christmas dates to do so online now.
Last night the retail giant hosted a glittering event in Central London showcasing some of the festive favourites - new and old - which they think will be top of shoppers' list this year. Here's our picture round-up of what to watch out for this year, read on for full details on some of the things we're most excited for this year.
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Sweet treats
Chocoholics always do pretty well out of M&S at Christmas, notably with their biscuits which are dunked in such thick chocolate that they're more like chocolate bars with a bit of biscuit in the middle than vice versa.
Percy Pig is, of course, well represented with a range of gifts starting from just £4 for a little tin post box filled with treats. He also comes in an advent calendar, along with a Dachshund Through The Snow advent calendar, a chocolate bar a day advent calendar and - my favourite - a chocolate whip version that basically takes the retro sweet classic of a walnut whip and makes 24-days worth of delicious versions to enjoy.
New for this year is a show-stopping giant chocolate wreath made of popcorn, smarties and thick Belgian chocolate. At £8 it's a great centrepiece as long as you could avoid it melting - or small hands dismantling it to eat it early - we tried some and it was delicious so the temptation is real.
Also new is a light-up Santa's Magical Chocolate Workshop is £15 and comes with four flavours of chocolate people - for me the salted caramel filling was the best - and not only lights up but also makes the noise of jingling reindeer bells.
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Elsewhere the light-up tea and shortbread tins popular last year have been given a slight facelift so they look more like lanterns and have been joined by a matching hot chocolate tin, with all three available in silver, gold or rose gold colours. You can get it delivered, along with a sparkly candle, for £35 including P&P as a postal gift or they're available in store with prices starting from £4 for the tea.
Our top pick: I absolutely loved the Chocolate Topple Tower, £8, which was a series of white, milk and dark chocolate sticks. It was basically Jenga but you can eat the chocolate when you lift your pieces off and, bearing in mind the amount of chocolate you get in the box, it felt like great value particularly when compared with the pretty-but-significantly-lighter-on-chocolate £15 musical chocolate workshop.
Savoury gifting treats for every budget
As someone for whom M&S is where you buy a few special bits of your Christmas food shop while the rest is done in more budget-friendly supermarkets, it was really interesting how often people showcasing the food flagged up more reasonably-priced 'treats' to go with the rest of your festive food.
The M&S Christmas hampers are available to order now and, of course, come in a range of prices up to a whopping £1,000. But in between the pricier things like this stunning £135 Christmas Treat crate which comes with fresh cheese, panettone, a sausage roll wreath and a host of other tempting treats were a surprising amount of gift options from £30 including delivery.
If you're shopping in store there's lots of options well below this though. with chutneys, pickles, jams and other accompaniments from £2.50 which would be perfect and unusual gifts for foodies as well as delicious things for the Christmas table.
Our top pick: I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Limited Edition Welsh Crunchy Heather Honey (£8) when it hits stores - the crunch doesn't come from honeycomb but instead crystals form in the honey as the bees make it which sounds intriguing and something I'd love to try.
The biggest stir this Christmas though looks set to be the £4 Hazelnut Spread which has been appearing in store for the last few weeks but selling out almost immediately after it went viral on TikTok with fans describing it as 'Kinder Bueno in a jar'.
Next-level party food
Everyone loves a buffet at Christmas and M&S has a reputation for party food with the wow factor if you're happy to pay a premium for it. There's cute vegan reindeer bao buns joining the range this year along with some new pizza gyozas, mini steak sandwiches and cheddar cheese and bacon mac and cheese bites.
Our top pick: The one thing absolutely top of my shopping list for this year that I won't be buying anywhere but M&S is their M&S Collection Pork, Parmesan and Truffle Sausage Rolls. I am not usually someone with posh sausage roll tastes, and prefer party sausage rolls fresh out of the oven cooked from frozen. But these were possibly the tastiest sausage rolls I've ever eaten in my life and I will be hunting them down as soon as they hit stores.
Fool-proof turkey and all the trimmings
As in previous years, M&S has an extensive range of turkeys available to order alongside other meat, fish, vegan and vegetarian main course options for Christmas Day.
Visitors were given the chance to try Osso Bucco, pancetta baked roast potatoes and fillet of beef alongside what M&S expert Matthew Dawson proudly proclaimed was a fool-proof turkey lunch.
The British Oakham slow cooked turkey crown with bacon and stuffing is served on the bone and comes not only with a turkey gravy but its own metal tray to decant it in straight into the oven so there's no washing up big pans when you're done. As it's already been partially cooked sous vide it takes just 55 minutes in the oven and serves 4-6 for £35 but if you want it you'll need to order it in advance - it won't be coming to shelves otherwise.
Our verdict: As a household who loves leftover turkey for days after the turkey crown wouldn't be for us but it was genuinely incredible - initially when we were given our tasting tray I was a bit suspicious at the lack of cranberry sauce that I always have with turkey because I find it too dry. This turkey was moist and perfectly cooked. I'm usually someone that prefers leg because I feel like turkey breast doesn't have much flavour but this was delicious.
Bakery and desserts - and a new makeover for Colin
It wouldn't be Christmas without a festive makeover for Colin the Caterpillar and this year both in-store versions and the larger Christmas dessert option have been given ice skates and a blue bobble hat for the occasion. But if you're after something a little bit traditional - or totally different - there's some other stunning options.
This crackling Yule Log comes with popping candy to sprinkle all over it for something a bit different. Moving away from chocolate completely the £25 helter skelter cake is a light madeira sponge filled with raspberry jam that has a white chocolate dome you can roll snowballs down which lifts off to reveal a cute little penguin underneath.
Meanwhile, the most beautiful thing on the stand was this £35 white chocolate, passionfruit and mango snowglobe. Perfect for people who want something a bit lighter for after dinner, it combines mousses and soft cake layers and comes with a bag of desiccated coconut for dusting to give it real wow factor on the table.
Our verdict: As someone with a sweet tooth I loved everything M&S had to offer this year and already have my eye on a Christmas Colin. But with festive bakery items and party foods available in store from early November there's plenty to enjoy before the big day.
M&S's signature Yumnuts (a flaky hybrid of a yumyum and a doughnut) is getting a Christmas tree makeover, but my must-have - that I'm going to make sure I get my fill of over the next couple of months - is the panettonut, which pairs the flavours and texture of panettone with a doughnut.
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