M&S Christmas

Maybe a poster would like to let us know what we can post about…

No bragging here.

I was a working mum, raising five children, at different schools. Added to which I had volunteering obligations.

It is just my modus operandi to be organised.

Fail to prepare- prepare to fail

I think I understand greyfur’s irritation.
Oh yes, it's irritation alright. On every thread about luxury goods she takes aim at people's financial privilege and points out how not everyone can afford these.
Well, we know that, we're not ridiculing or being scornful of anyone.

Of course posters are going to mention M&S. It's the only grocery store mentioned both in the title and in the OP.

Cressy

I need to stop reading this thread 😳. I am not able to book a Waitrose slot until the 30th September!! I assume the lucky posters on here have a delivery pass?

I do not gave a delivery pass.

I got an email on Monday 21/09 to say I could book from 23:09

I have booked my M and S collection for Christmas Eve. It is a large food hall with plenty of parking not in the centre of town so very convenient. We usually get a Turkey crown and the complete veg selection. However, we haven’t enjoyed the parsnips and roast potatoes the last two years so have just ordered the turkey and the red cabbage and may perhaps add the cauliflower cheese nearer the time to use on Boxing Day.

I need to stop reading this thread 😳. I am not able to book a Waitrose slot until the 30th September!! I assume the lucky posters on here have a delivery pass?

I think I understand greyfur’s irritation.

The OP says M&S’s Christmas food is expensive and asks if anyone is shopping someone cheaper.

That was swiftly followed by umpteen people saying they are shopping at M&S or Waitrose, the two most expensive food shops outside of very high-end suppliers. So it could come across a little as bragging that they have the money to shop where others can’t afford to.

I’ve never been sucked into the market schtick that either of those stores is better than any other. And because M&S doesn’t stock a full range of groceries I doubt many people do their whole shop there.

And as for having to book an online slot for Christmas in September, that’s just madness. It suggests those stores don’t have the capacity to handle the kind of volume the big grocery stores do .. or they are just pushing the line that you still have to get to M&S early - as was the case before online shopping - or the shelves will be empty.

All of this adds to the anxiety that many people have over Christmas because it pushes another fantasy - that everyone else is going to be having a big party and feeding the five thousand when many people will spend Christmas alone and feel very self-conscious about it. We have already had one very recent thread about that and I have no doubt, with Christmas still three months away, there will be more.

My family eat up my M and S gluten free cheese crackers, they seem to like them better than their "normal "ones. But the gluten free fruit cake that has just come in is much more expensive than last year, I'm not sure if l will buy it.

GrannyGravy13

greyfur16

To bag a Waitrose slot, you need to have £40.00 on hand to save your place,you probably need a car and some basic IT skills.

Not everybody has these things. Never mind, I'll crawl back under my rock.

You do not pay anything until the day of delivery.

Why do you need a car for a food delivery?

If you can post on GN and/or used home deliveries during Covid you can secure a Christmas delivery slot.

You need to have £40.00 pounds in a bank account to grab the slot.

Graphite I obviously buck the trend/statistics

I shop in M & S Food Hall every week, I also use Aldi, Sainsbury’s Local and one of two Farm Shops weekly.

I do a big shop online alternating between Waitrose and Sainsbury’s for things I cannot source from the others .

greyfur16

To bag a Waitrose slot, you need to have £40.00 on hand to save your place,you probably need a car and some basic IT skills.

Not everybody has these things. Never mind, I'll crawl back under my rock.

You do not pay anything until the day of delivery.

Why do you need a car for a food delivery?

If you can post on GN and/or used home deliveries during Covid you can secure a Christmas delivery slot.

We have an M&S fairly near, so traditionally we’ve gone at the crack of dawn on the 23rd, to be there when they open, to get a turkey and plenty of OJ.
I used to order but no more.

One year, when hosting relatives who didn’t like turkey, I ordered a joint of beef, supposed to be enough for 8, and maybe it was, if you only wanted small portions with hardly any left over .

I put it in the freezer and bought a bigger one elsewhere!

greyfur16

To bag a Waitrose slot, you need to have £40.00 on hand to save your place,you probably need a car and some basic IT skills.

Not everybody has these things. Never mind, I'll crawl back under my rock.

Don’t be upset about it. The original post was about high prices at M&S asking:

Anyone else given up on these expensive prices and moved to a cheaper local supermarket?

There’s no obligation to shop at M&S, in fact I can’t remember when I last went inside either of the two stores here to buy anything.

Many (most) do shop elsewhere. M&S has only 4% of the total grocery market share. It grows to between 6% and 7% in the Christmas period but it’s still a minnow. Tesco has a 28% share and Sainsbury 16% of the Christmas grocery market.

M&S doesn’t even fall under the definition of ‘grocers’ using the methodology on which the world grocery market share is based because it doesn’t carry a full range of grocery products.

To bag a Waitrose slot, you need to have £40.00 on hand to save your place,you probably need a car and some basic IT skills.

Not everybody has these things. Never mind, I'll crawl back under my rock.

I won’t get a slot with Ocado till tomoro.
Will book it for the 23rd same as Oreo.

Waitrose slot booked for the family.

I rarely buy Christmas food from M and S,or anywhere really, I don't host much myself but I do make things that the family like and take them ( often to my daughters)
I've never done an online shop though I do have a veg box delivered fortnightlywhich will be very useful for all the veg dishes we have at Christmas.
Having said that the M and S Christmas deserts look extremely delicious!

Daddima UPF = Ultra Processed Food.

All those additives and over processed ingredients that go into most processed foods. Look at the list of ingredients on a supermarket loaf. It ought to say just flour, yeast and salt. What it actually says is:
Wheat Flour [with Calcium, Niacin (B3), Iron, Folic Acid and Thiamin (B1)], Water, Yeast, Salt, Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed and Sustainable Palm), Soya Flour, Preservative: Calcium Propionate, Emulsifiers: E472e, E481, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

Get to soft drinks and snacks and the ingredients list is almost unintelligible

I don't really buy anything very different. We eat alone, maybe have some turkey. What I enjoy about Christmas is the evening at my son and DiLs, with her dad and brothers family.

You’re a wise old owl GrannyGravy13 😃🦉

Oreo

Am sure most posters will know this, but just in case….doing your Christmas order now will just keep the slot for you, it won’t guarantee that your chosen items will arrive.If they are out of stock on the day when they pack up your order ( this includes Ocado) then they will either substitute a different item or just apologise.
It’s best to not leave the slot until the 24th as if you do it a day earlier it leaves time to go out and try and source those items.

Yes my slot is early on the 23rd December, gives me or DH time to source any missing/substituted items.

We have a Marks in my local town and I shop in there for one or two items, I usually call in there once a week. I used Marks a lot, during lock down for food, a compensation for months of not being able to go out for a meal. Their largest stand alone food hall has opened about 20 miles from where I live, I'll definitely drive over there to investigate. I think on the whole I prefer Marks' to Waitrose as far as top end food is concerned, although I like the Waitrose experience it feels calmer in there than all the rest. Again I don't buy that much from them either, Aldi has opened right next door to Waitrose and John Lewis in my town and I've come to really like Aldi competition is a good thing for the consumer. I split my shop between, Sainsbury and Aldi. With a few items from Marks and Waitrose. I'll probably use all 4 around Christmas and I generally redeem accrued Nectar point in Saibsburys towards Christmas entertaining.

Am sure most posters will know this, but just in case….doing your Christmas order now will just keep the slot for you, it won’t guarantee that your chosen items will arrive.If they are out of stock on the day when they pack up your order ( this includes Ocado) then they will either substitute a different item or just apologise.
It’s best to not leave the slot until the 24th as if you do it a day earlier it leaves time to go out and try and source those items.

I generally spend Christmas these days with DD and her menfolk. They buy almost everything we eat on the day from M&S and if not there, from Waitrose. I think much of it is overpriced and underwhelming and it has to be ordered so far in advance. But then I’m old school! Having said that, we will be away in rural Northumberland for Christmas this year and the order will be picked up from a large town close to where we are staying so it will take the worry out of having to source food locally so close to the day itself, or take it with us (we hope!).

M0nica

greyfur16

Is it me....or is this just endless bragging? Many people do not have access to funds to go to farm shops and buy fizz.

Why is it bragging? I speak of my life as I live it. I have always given the quality of the food I feed my family and guests highest priority, regardless of my income, because our life and health depends on it. There was a report published only last week that showed that the more UPFs you consume in your diet the higher your risk of having strokes and heart disease.

UPFs in our diet are the result of chasing cheaper and cheaper food regardless of the effect it has on us. If I thought it was only the poorest people who did that it would be understandable, but it isn't, it is the majority of people in the country, most of whom can afford to pay more. It may mean cutting back on other things - clothes, holidays etc. We all make our own decisions and I have made mine.

Sorry, what is a UPF?