If there is one thing that we as a nation can absolutely agree on, it is that nothing can top a Christmas dinner.
While not a lot can beat the real homemade deal, there are many supermarket cafes that are offering a festive feast on their menu in the run-up to December 25.
To help find out if any of these yuletide menu items could lift the Christmas spirit, four writers from The Manchester Evening News headed out to five major supermarkets to try them out.
They visited Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda to test out their full Christmas Turkey offerings, while Tesco and M&S were offering their own seasonal alternatives.
Sainsbury's
The Sainsbury's cafe is offering a few season treats this year, including vegetarian Christmas dinners (£6.80), a Pigs Under Blanket bap (£4) and mince pies, writes Adam Maidment.
Visiting the Sainsbury’s café in Hazel Grove on a cold Tuesday afternoon, Adam opted for the £6.80 full turkey dinner that came complete with the full works, including turkey slices, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, Brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings, cranberry sauce, a stuffing ball and gravy.
Adam noted that his plate was crammed with festive goodies, including two yorkies and FIVE roast potatoes for good measure. However, he did note that the turkey was fairly bland, but that there were loads to make up for it. He admitted that the gravy had a nice herby taste to it and no lumps, while the roasties were tasty and verging on crispy.
Adam did note that everyone's favourite, the pigs in blankets, were, sadly, a bit of a disappointment as they were just essentially smokey mini cocktail sausages. Also, only one of his three had bacon wrapped round it.
The reporter did say that he was not a fan of sprouts, but that Sainsbury's ones were quite good. There was no stuffing as advertised and the cranberry sauce was nice, if a little too sweet.
He wrote: "It’s a very good offering and it was a lot tastier than I had expected it to be, to be fair. Supermarket cafes often get a bit of a bad rep and I'm just as guilty of that as anyone else. With other offerings on the menu, and with vegetarian options too, you can see they’ve tried to offer a variety of things.
"And it’s maybe even changed my mind on sprouts. Winner winner, Christmas dinner."
Rating: 3.5/5
Morrisons
Bethan shufflebotham popped into her local Morrisons café, which has since undergone a refurbishment, for a full festive feast and was not left disappointed.
Initially wanting to sample their turkey dinner on Monday, the reporter was out of luck after she was informed that a lack of Yorkshire puddings had seen it scratched off the menu for the day. However, after being given a menu to go away with, she found that between 11.30am and 3.30pm, you can actually get a two course meal for less than a tenner, or opt for three courses for £11.99 - saving around £2 on the total value.
Morrisons Christmas menu currently offers starters such as prawn cocktail and Brussels pâté for £3.99 each, but Bethan opted to try out the tomato and basil soup worth £3.49, alongside the turkey roast and apple crumble.
The writer found that it only took 15 minutes for her to order her food and have it delivered at her table and she was provided with a jug of extra gravy, and a pouring pot of cream for my dessert.
Starting with her bowl of soup, which came with a white roll and two packs of Lurpak, Bethan wrote that it was frankly, massive, and almost overflowing the deep dish.
As for he main dish, the Christmas turkey dinner, there was so much food she could barely see the plate, complete with a generous carving of juicy turkey that didn’t feel as though it’d been sat under a heat lamp, as well as soft carrot batons and five Brussel sprouts.
She did find that the stuffing was slightly overdone, however, the crisp pigs in blankets were perfect. Morrisons were also offering both three crunchy roasties and creamy mash, meaning she didn't have to choose.
Speaking of the Morrisons Bramley Apple Crumble with cream to finish, she called it a perfect finale to a stellar meal.
Bethan said: "I genuinely don’t think I’d have gotten much better in a pub for £12 - essentially £4 per course - and I left absolutely stuffed.
"If three courses is perhaps a bit much, festive hot sandwiches and burgers are also available, as well as a Mini Christmas Turkey Roast. Fans of Pigs in Blankets can order a stand alone portion for £2.99 to satisfy any festive cravings, served with a pot of cranberry sauce.
"Morrisons café has offered up stylish dining at affordable prices with generous portions and delicious gravy here. They get five gold rings from me."
Rating: 5/5
Asda
Writer Tom Molloy headed to his local Asda café inside Bolton's Burnden Park Superstore to try out this year's Christmas turkey dinner, which he did find had risen by 96p to £6.95.
Cheaper choices include a brie and cranberry toastie (£4.25), pigs under blankets toastie (£4.25) and tomato soup with a roll (£3). Meanwhile, desserts are priced between £1.75 for a mince pie to £2.50 for a Black Forest gâteau.
Under the 'festive hot drinks' section are standard tea (£1.60) and an Americano (£2.45), or you can get a toffee-flavoured hot chocolate (£4.25 with whipped cream or £3.70 without).
Due to a deal, Tom managed that allows you to get a mince pie and a hot drink for £3, Tom managed to snap up a Christmas dinner, a mince pie and a toffee hot chocolate with whipped cream for just £9.55.
Starting with his dessert, as his cafe did not start serving food until 12, he noted the whipped cream was probably a mistake as the mug struggled to contain it and it started oozing over the sides. It was a little sickly but still pleasant. Tom also found that the mince pie left him quite impressed for both size and taste.
Onto the Christmas dinner, he wrote that it only took five minutes to arrive and that he had no complaints about the friendliness of the staff or speed of service.
Speaking of his food, he wrote: "The pigs in blankets were also really tasty, even if one of the bacon 'blankets' was missing its mini sausage 'pig'. The stuffing balls were actually quite good with almost a meaty texture and the Yorkshire pudding (whether or not you think it belongs on a Christmas dinner) was just the right amount of crispy.
"The roasties were also nowhere as bad as last year. On a more negative note, the turkey was, once again, limp and uninspiring, while the sprouts had seemingly been boiled or microwaved within an inch of their life. Overall, I left a lot more satisfied than last year but would still probably say that a carvery is better value if you want this sort of thing."
Christmas dinner - 2.5/5
Mince pie - 3.5/5
Hot chocolate 2.5/5
Overall rating: 3/5
Marks and Spencer
Writer Dianne Bourne found that M&S' Christmas menu for 2022 is full of delicious treats such as a warming turkey pot pie soup (£5.50) and turkey roast toastie (£6.50) as well as a rather bargainous pot of "festive" mini sausages on a bed of cranberry sauce (£1.50).
Trying out the candy cane frappe (£3.75), a large milkshake with a hint of mint chocolate in there, she found that it was finished with loads of cream and a cute candy cane chocolate on top. The mince pie latte (£3.30) also tried and found to be pleasant, despite the lack of mince of flavour.
Dianne wrote that the Turkey Pie Soup was pleasant and warming, but that it was essentially just soup with an added pastry on the top for extra effect.
While the Turkey roast toastie seemed expensive at £6.50, Diane did find that it was worth every penny, as it came complete with a huge hunk of turkey inside all wrapped in richly buttered wedges of toast with a herby sprinkling on top and some kind of melty cheese too.
For dessert, she sampled the Christmas tree tiffin slice (£2.95) which was a tasty chunk of chocolatey biscuity stuff with bauble sugar decorations on the front. Dianne also wrote that the red velvet candy cane loaf (£3.50) was pleasantly moist, but she was left troubled by the crunchiness on top, which was the sugar crystals used to look a bit like snow.
Dianne said: "The standout here though was the turkey roast toastie - it tasted as decadent as a Christmas Day dinner and that makes it a real winner in my eyes."
Turkey roast toastie: 5/5
Festive sausages: 4/5
Turkey soup pot pie: 3/5
Cakes and drinks: 4/5
Overall rating: 4.5/5
Tesco
Tesco's "turkey feast" panini had a lot to live up to after Dianne's turkey toastie of dreams over at M&S - and it, sadly, left a lot to the imagination.
Dianne Bourne described the supermarket's festive panini as the most pathetic slithers of dry turkey slathered with an unholy mix of mayonnaise and cranberry sauce, with a smattering of stuffing in there for £4.75.
While the bread was quite pleasant itself, the filling was so thin that it could not be called a feast, according to Dianne.
The writer did note that Tesco redeemed itself with the festive Yorkshire pudding wrap (£6.25) that came with extra thick gravy that was delicious.
While the wrap was oddly stuffed without turkey, it was crammed with sausage, bacon, stuffing and cranberry, alongside some salad that was possibly meant to resemble sprouts. Overall, she quite liked it within the weird sausage, gravy, cranberry batter mix of it all.
Speaking of the festive drinks, the cherry plum winter warmer (£2) tasted a bit like medicine, the gingerbread latte (£3.30) had a bit of a syrupy taste, but the Yule log hot chocolate (£3.80) was a winner. The hot chocolate won due to squirty cream on top and a collection of choc shavings.
As for the dessert, which was a Viennese mince pie (£1.25), the writer said that it was heavy on the pastry, with a fairly thin layer of mincemeat. Dianne particularly enjoyed the giant wodge of pastry and sugar on top.
Dianne wrote: "To end on a positive note, the actual café itself that I tried (at Tesco Crewe) was a really pleasant environment, having apparently had a bit of a recent makeover with snazzy posters and colourful chairs. And there was lots of room between the tables which meant for a pleasant and relaxing experience with our festive food."
Turkey feast panini: 1/5
Yorkshire pudding wrap: 4/5
Mince pie: 4/5
Drinks: 3/5
Overall rating: 3/5
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