The best (and worst) supermarket Christmas sandwiches 2022
It’s beginning to look a lot like, Morning Wire’s annual Christmas sandwiches taste test!
Don’t we treat you well… The Morning Wire team have been torn away from writing about all the important stuff to chow down on some delicious Christmas sandwiches, as well as some truly awful ones bringing Scrooge energy that really should have been left in Santa’s sack.
Sandwiches have been ranked from five stars – for the sandwich that belongs on top of the Christmas tree – to one star for the sorriest sarnies.
Try the best Christmas sandwiches 2022 to find out which have been naughty and which are nice. Thank us later…
★★ WAITROSE Turkey, Stuffing and Bacon & Brie and Cranberry
Although Waitrose’s meaty sandwich was packed with meat, it was also packed with disappointment. The texture of the chicken and bacon was soggy, and where it lacked flavour it compensated with saltiness. Being a veggie is probably the best bet here, as their Christmas offering is stuffed with brie that actually tastes like cheese (unlike a lot of supermarket sandwiches) and a well spread serving of spinach. Much better. Leah Montebello, who reports on tech and media when not on the sandwich beat
★ SAINSBURY’S Festive Ploughman’s & Roast Turkey
Just awful. No respite in every bite. It’s not tasteless, there’s too much taste and every inch of it is bad. Blue cheese and cranberry? It may have been a bad batch but I couldn’t finish it. The Turkey Feast is better, but the most valuable player here was the mayonnaise. Its soft, creamy taste offset the wholegrain bread. The turkey was moist and easy to chomp into, while the bacon provided toughness, ensuring the lunchtime snack’s integrity. Jack Barnett, economics and markets reporter with a penchant for a sarnie, and Nicholas Earl, who some call the Earl of the Egg Mayonnaise
★ BOOTS Turkey Feast & No Turkey Feast
Almost transparent bacon, a pitiful amount of filling and a cranberry sauce void of consistency; the Boots turkey feast Christmas sandwich really should remain on the shelf. Open the two triangles of – rather delicious – bread and you’ll count just a couple of slices of turkey and a single cranberry. How can it be so soggy when there’s naff all inside? The vegetarian “no turkey feast” is palatable but the textures are a Christmas nightmare. Boots describe “seasoned wheat gluten and soya protein pieces” but just call it fake turkey! Matt Hardy, sports reporter and meal deal fanatic
★★★ COOP Turkey Feast & No Turkey Feast
Surprised as I was to discover it, Coop’s Christmas sandwich actually tastes quite a lot like a Christmas dinner between bread. One cranberry was split in half and hanging over the crust, pleading for its life as it was squished against the packet edge, but we can’t have it all. As for the veggie option, the soya protein looks a shade too anaemic to get the saliva going, and acts a little too much like a spring to feel like turkey, and doesn’t taste much like it either, but hey, the roasted carrot and parsnip base is tasty – but too sweet. Adam Bloodworth, sandwich testing head honcho
★★★★★ PRET Christmas Lunch Sandwich & Festive Falafel and Squash
Honestly, why does anyone else bother making Christmas sandwiches? Pret absolutely bring it home every year. These are overfilled to the point of obnoxiousness: the ingredients are jesting at me and other Christmas sandwiches from the packet. Getting the triangle from packet to mouth requires spreading your fingers across the length of the bread to provide human scaffolding to keep the heavy chunks in the bread, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay. Pret can jingle my bells any day. Christmas sandwich 2022 winner outright. No competition. Adam Bloodworth, again, ’cause he hogged two sandwich reviews
★★★★ M&S Turkey Feast & No Turkey Feast
Traditionalists say bacon has no place between the slices of a Christmas Sandwich. But, to paraphrase bars around London, “well behaved [sandwiches] don’t make history.” This meaty number from M&S has shrugged off the chains of Christmas past and embraced a bacon present. The salty pork strips play off the sweetness of the cranberry and lift this sandwich well above the stodgy Turkey-and-stuffing fare of its competitors. The veggie version will jingle all the right bells. The shapeless grey protein at its core proves a filling swap-in for its turkey inspiration. Charlie Conchie, who investigates fintech, VC, PE and investment when he’s not critiquing cranberries
★★★ TESCO Turkey & Trimmings and Brie & Cranberry
Tesco’s festive offering offers a tale of two sarnies. For vegetarians, the country’s largest supermarket combines spinach, brie and cranberry, in a triple threat of fillings. As a combination goes, it is a hard one to get wrong. Its meat option falls short slightly, but still provides a ‘Christmassy enough’ flavour, with sausage, bacon and cranberry sauce as the ensemble cast. But, and maybe it was just a bad day, slightly dry bread let the team down. Emily Hawkins, who writes about retail and hospitality, so to be fair sandwiches aren’t far off her beat
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