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Pigs in blankets
Buy
Morrisons pigs in blankets, £1.99
Better when crispy, so brown off properly. The bacon dried well and they have a good sausage taste.
Marks & Spencer pigs in blankets, £3.29
The herbs give a slightly too perfumey aftertaste, but these are good.
Don't buy
Iceland Glenview Farm frozen pigs in blankets, £2
Unwrap the bacon and there's not actually a sausage inside. It's some sort of white sausage meat. They taste terrible. Beyond bad.
Tesco sausage & bacon wraps, £1.50
They look like school dinner sausages - they're very pale, even after ages in the oven. They taste like bad fat.
Cranberry sauce
Buy
Asda cranberry sauce, 66p
Contains 47% fruit and has a proper cranberry taste.
Waitrose cranberry sauce with port, £2.19
Very fruity with huge berries and not overly sweetened. More pricey than Asda, though.
Don't buy
Aldi Elsenham wild cranberry sauce, 99p
Dulled down, cheap jam.
Tesco cranberry sauce, 57p
Only has 28% fruit. This has nothing going for it.
Bread sauce
Buy
Sainsbury's fresh bread sauce, £1.69
Bit too clovey, but nice consistency. As good as premade bread sauce gets.
Lidl Colemans bread sauce, 39p
Not bad, but goes putty-like if left out for long.
Don't buy
Morrisons fresh Jersey cream and nutmeg bread sauce, £1.49
Watery, salty, with a vague aftertaste of flour.
Marks & Spencer fresh bread sauce, £2.99
Far too rich - 21% double cream and only 8% bread. It doesn't even taste like bread sauce.
Stuffing
Buy
Iceland Paxo chestnut and cranberry dried stuffing, £1
By far the best of the dried stuffings.
Morrisons pork, apricot, cranberry and almond stuffing balls, £2.19
Proper stuffing. I'd be happy to serve this.
Don't buy
Sainsbury's sage & onion dried stuffing, 16p
Save your stale bread and make your own. It would be infinitely better than this.
Marks & Spencer pork and caramelised chestnut stuffing, £3.99
Greasy, tasteless, bland.
Christmas pudding
Buy
Marks & Spencer Christmas pudding, £1.99
Really good value. The part that binds the fruit together is moist rather than indiscernible gloop. This was the only pudding out of nine own-brand puddings I tasted that I feel able to recommend.
Don't buy
Asda smart price Christmas pudding, £1
Disgusting. Tastes of plastic.
Iceland extra-large Christmas pudding, £5
Horrible. It only 0.5% brandy in it - what's the point? And what on earth is cotton seed oil?
Brandy butter
Buy
Sainsbury's Courvoisier brandy butter, £1.65
Nice flavours of alcohol and a good sugary crunch.
Marks & Spencer brandy butter with Courvoisier VS Cognac, £2.99
A touch too sweet and needs more alcohol. It's a good sugary brown colour though.
Don't buy
Waitrose brandy butter, £2.19
Just tastes likes sugary butter. Not good.
Tesco Brandy Butter, £1.19
Not enough booze in this.
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