They may save you hours of cooking time, but does the quality of turkey dinner meet expectations?
As Christmas Day draws near and your to-do list grows, simplifying the cooking could save you a lot of stress – and cash.
And what could be easier than a ready-cooked Christmas dinner? Not only do you save yourself hours of cooking time – the meals we’ve sampled take from 55 minutes to just over two hours – but you can save heaps of shopping time, too.
We tried four boxes, from supermarket to high-end butcher, and the range in price reflects the quality.
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I tried the four meals in one week and the aspect that impressed me the most was how stress-free the experience was. I’m someone who loves a home-cooked meal, and tends to enjoy the time spent prepping for guests. I really didn’t expect to enjoy these turkey dinners quite as much as I did, but my head’s been turned.
Given Christmas is a day when it’s nice to spend more time with family than holding a potato peeler, I heartily recommend going down the ready meal route.
£78.85 (£17.91 per person)
3.5/5 – Best pigs in blankets
Includes: turkey breast stuffed with cranberry, apricot, and pork stuffing, wrapped in bacon, plus roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, sprouts, eight pigs in blankets, gravy, stuffing
I wouldn’t usually attempt any kind of roast, never mind a turkey dinner, after a weekend away. But in this case, I’m home by 3pm on a Sunday and have dinner on the table for 5:30pm. While I consider myself an able cook, I’m terrible at timing. This feels like a Christmas miracle.
COOK’s frozen Christmas dinner for four easily serves four adults and two small children, though inevitably the kids stamp their feet for more pigs in blankets. Fair enough, these are my favourite PIBs of the lot: slender Cumberland chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon.
If it was actually Christmas Day, I’d have bought an extra tray. When I go to the COOK website to check their origin (Speldhurst near Royal Tunbridge Wells), it gives the same advice.
The COOK Christmas Dinner for four required too many different times and temperatures
That’s the thing with ready meals like this one: you can accept that what’s in the box isn’t to everyone’s exact perfect-Christmas specifications, but roll with the brilliance of not having to labour over umpteen shopping decisions. Or you can add on as many extras as you fancy, which for me would be cranberry sauce (£3.50), bread sauce (£3.25) and, obviously, extra PIBs (£7.50).
Apart from the turkey crown, which needs to defrost in the fridge for 48 hours, and the sprouts which are blanched on the hob, most of the dinner – roast potatoes, pork and apricot stuffing, pigs in blankets, carrot with marmalade and parsnips with rosemary and thyme – oven cooks straight from frozen.
My quibble is that there are too many different times and temperatures required. But the box does come with a handy timed cooking booklet, which counts you down to a 2pm meal with a 2hrs 15 mins total cooking time, pointing out that when you have a full oven, the timings will vary.
I had it ready and on the table in the 2hrs 15 minutes quoted almost to the minute. I also manage to set the table, light a candle and mix a cocktail – success.
The turkey slices beautifully and looks pretty with its layer of stuffing. Notably, this is the only box that comes with a side of stuffing, and it’s a good one. The marmalade carrots have a decent sweet and citrus tang, but the parsnips don’t cook well and come out hard and somewhat woody.
Overall, this does feel well worth the money to me, and if you order a box to serve eight, the price comes down to £16.96 a head. I’ve ignored the huge freezer of COOK meals at my corner shop before now, but will take a closer look next time.
£39.99, 3.5kg, ALDI
1/5
Includes: slow cooked turkey joint wrapped in bacon, with stuffing, pigs in blankets, carrots, parsnips, roast potatoes, turkey gravy
ALDI’s Specially Selected The Ultimate Christmas Dinner in a Box fell short of expectations
I really wanted to like this. I often go on record as a fan of Aldi and buy lots of their products.
I’m not sure what went so wrong here, but overall the meal did not taste at all good. I was the only diner who ploughed on – for official purposes.
The veg were undercooked. I was surprised the parsnips only asked for 25 mins in the oven as the other meals all stated twice that. Unsurprisingly they came out not at all cooked, inedible, in fact. The carrots were slightly better, but too firm to enjoy. The roast potatoes were acceptably browned, possibly the best bit of the meal, but could have done with a bit more time in the oven.
The turkey did look quite good when it came out of the oven. The bacon was a bit scorched, but nice and crispy, and the stuffing inside was generous. I don’t expect turkey to taste of much, that’s what the gravy and other sauces are for, but it was dry, too.
I can say that it was easy to cook, at least.
Given ALDI has kicked off a Christmas veg price war again, your 40 quid would be better spent getting a turkey crown elsewhere, holding over a few quid for potatoes and veg, and cooking your own.
£50/£12.50 per portion, 3.63kg, Sainsbury’s
3/5 – Best roast potatoes
Includes: Turkey breast stuffed with pork, chestnut and thyme stuffing, wrapped in streaky bacon, plus roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, pigs in blankets, turkey and chicken gravy
With some extra veg, the Sainsbury’s Taste the Different Slow Cooked Proper Christmas Dinner Box could have been a winner
At first sight, this Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference box looks similar to the Aldi dinner. The contents are fairly bare bones, with no sprouts or red cabbage, but there are two packets of roast potatoes and two of the gravy, which when cooked give a very generous meal.
The prep is simple enough. The quoted cooking time is 55 minutes, though this doesn’t include resting time so I go over by 10 minutes. The instructions count back from the start time and use one oven temperature for the lot, which is practical and appreciated.
The turkey breast is a generous size for four and there’s plenty for seconds. The stuffing is more of a smear between the bacon and the turkey, though, so stuffing fans would need to buy extra. For a moment, I worry it is undercooked as it looks pink in spots, but I decide the colour is from the bacon and later read that this is indeed the case at the end of the instructions – a smart add from Sainsbury’s to allay any Christmas Day panic.
The carrots and parsnips, both cooked in honey, mustard and thyme, are fine – passable, if unremarkable. It’s the potatoes, Maris Pipers slow-cooked in beef fat, that really stand out. The outside crisps up nicely – you’ll never get a super sharp outer on spuds cooked at a temperature that suits the whole meal – but the insides are heavenly, the fluffiest I’ve had in ages and by far the best of the lot.
With an extra little push, such as sprouts or red cabbage, this one could be a real winner, but it’s great value as it is.
£60, Donald Russell
4/5 OVERALL WINNER – Outstanding gravy
Includes: Turkey parcels with pork, cranberry and chestnut stuffing wrapped in bacon, eight pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, sprouts, red cabbage, parsnips, gravy, strawberry cheesecake
Donald Russell’s British Turkey Parcel Box with Trimmings was both the easiest and the tastiest
This is by far the easiest Christmas meal to cook, as well as the tastiest. The sprouts are bright and al dente, the parsnips cooked through and honey-sweet, the red cabbage rich and moreish.
I know it is difficult to do pre-cooked vegetables to a high standard, but Donald Russell proves it is possible – and that it doesn’t have to be complicated, either.
The ease of cooking this meal is down to the thought that has been put into the packaging, timings and temperature. All of the veg come in oven-ready cartons that can be recycled after use – apart from the roast potatoes and pigs in blankets, which are tipped out and cooked on hot trays, alongside the turkey parcels.
All are cooked at the same temperature for 35-45 minutes, except the PIBs, which need less time.
When I plate up, despite the great number of turkeys that I’ve tried this month, I am really keen to get stuck in. The turkey and PIBs are both juicy and tasty, with excellent stuffing. I love the crunch of walnut with the sprouts and the richness of the red cabbage. But my gold stars go to the parsnips, cooked through and tender with a gentle hit of mustard, and the outstanding poultry gravy.
This package is £60, so £30 a head. It does include a pudding, too, but is by far the most expensive, so I had expected it to deliver.
If you’re a bigger group, Donald Russell does a range of Christmas Dinner boxes, including turkey crowns and whole turkeys (£21/£22 per portion), as well as alternatives such as a range of beef roasts, beef wellington and venison.
Best of the rest:
Other ready-cooked Christmas meals we like the look of that aren’t yet ready for testing include:
ASDA Slow-cooked turkey with all the trimmings, £37.97, serves 6-8
M&S Collection Slow-cooked turkey and trimmings, £80, serves 6
Cote at Home Festive Turkey Feast, £134.95, serves 4-6
Dining and Cooking