26 September 2023 , 09:59
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Marks and Spencer has become the first UK supermarket to launch their Christmas food ordering slots for 2023. Hot on the heels of a glittering launch showcasing all their Christmas food and drink offerings in London this week, Christmas Food to Order slots went live on the M&S website this morning.
Pumpkin spiced lattes may only just be hitting stores and eagle-eyed shoppers will have seen items from the Christmas ranges dropping into stores already but M&S has launched their slots earlier than ever this year. They are also considerably earlier than their major competitors, with most of the others waiting until closer to Halloween.
Tesco customers who use the delivery and click and collect plans can book slots from November 7, a week earlier than last year. Slots for other shoppers will open on November 21 a day earlier than 2022. Meanwhile Sainsbury's delivery pass customers can start booking from October 16.
Unlike other supermarkets, M&S food ordering service is a click and collect service for in store only with orders due to be collected from December 22 to 24. Shoppers can order anything anything from an entire turkey through to party foods, desserts and other items.
Shoppers can book a collection date and time now and add some initial items to their basket, paying a £50 deposit for their order. The outstanding balance is payable when you collect your order in store.
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You can amend the order right up until the deadline for ordering, meaning you can add and remove food and even change your collection store and time slot.
M&S has a wide range of different foods available for order and even if you're not an accomplished home chef they've launched a 'foolproof' £45 Christmas dinner for four with everything you need to enjoy the big day. The bundle includes a British Oakham turkey joint topped with streaky bacon and stuffing, which comes with roast potatoes, baby carrots, red cabbage and a thick, rich turkey gravy.
All elements have been partially slow cooked so they can be ready after just an hour in the oven, meaning no-one needs to be missing a big chunk of the big day slaving over a hot stove to get lunch ready.
M&S' Oakham Turkey complete turkey lunch is £45 for four people and includes turkey with stuffing, carrots, potatoes, red cabbage and even gravy to finish it off. All the components have been slow cooked so it only takes an hour to warm (Narin Flanders)Percy Pig and Colin the Caterpillar both get festive facelifts for both Christmas food ordering and hamper gifts, while the full size chocolate version of Colin sees him wearing a Christmas jumper modelled on M&S' most popular festive knitwear design, keeping him firmly on trend. Meanwhile, there are dozens of different styles of Christmas hampers now, starting from just £20 to full size family options with every tasty treat you need to celebrate Christmas and plenty more besides.
M&S' light up gins have become a Christmas staple for many in recent years, with each year bringing new flavours. But for the first time other spirits drinkers can get involved in the fun, with this year seeing a single Marmalade gin liqueur offering being joined by a very berry vodka liqueur and a stollen rum liqueur, all perfect for drinking on the rocks or in cocktails. Each flavour comes in a stylish light up bottle.
The drinks are available in some stores already and are dropping online this week. Meanwhile, fans of Baileys style Irish Cream liqueurs can enjoy either a coffee flavoured Tiramisu version or a sweeter, biscuity Millionaires flavour which has caramel and biscuit notes like the chocolate shortbread.