This year, were on the hunt to find the ultimate Christmas sarnie. Were talking the entire festive lunch crammed between two pieces of bread. With our own in-house Sandwich Club, we think were sandwich experts and are giving you the definitive guide on where to spend your lunch money this festive season.
Each week, between now and the big day itself were trying Christmas sandwiches from the following:
M&S
Sainsburys
Co-op
Tesco
Waitrose
Asda
Cobb Digitals Sandwich Club
With so much to think about when it comes to the Christmas sandwich well be marking them out of five gold stars on the following criteria:
Presentation
Bread consistency
Sauce to filling ratio
Overall flavour
Value for money
Depth of sarnie
Christmas magic
First up, its M&S
Turkey & Pigs in Blankets £3.70
British pork sausages and smoked British bacon, roast British turkey breast, cranberry chutney, spiced mayonnaise and spinach on sage and onion bread
Presentation: ?? ?? ?? ??
Bread consistency: ?? ?? ?? ??
Sauce to filling ratio: ?? ?? ?? ??
Overall flavour: ?? ?? ??
Value for money: ?? ??
Depth of sarnie: ?? ?? ?? ??
Christmas magic: ?? ?? ??
Total: 24/35
We dont know whether it was because this was our first sarnie or if we werent feeling Christmassy enough yet, but were undecided. While the bread was sage and onion, there was a distinct lack of proper stuffing and we found the bacon quite chewy. We did like the tangy cranberry though, and were impressed with the even distribution throughout the sarnie.
Sainsburys
Turkey with Pigs Under Blankets £2.35
Turkey with pork sausages and bacon, garnished with a sweet cranberry sauce and mayonnaise on a malted bread.
Presentation: ?? ?
Bread consistency: ???
Sauce to filling ratio: ???
Overall flavour: ???
Value for money: ????
Depth of sarnie: ???
Christmas magic: ?? (Pink? How is this Christmas?)
Total: 21/35
Despite being only the second sarnie in the series Sainsburys offering has caused quite some controversy at Cobb HQ. Whilst the meat content was incredibly strong and trounced the quantity of the M&S sandwich, we felt disappointed by the lack of structure and green elements (by this, we mean veggies). The Sainsburys sandwich was untouchable in its value for money, we each received a whole half sandwich which compares to the measly one quarter from M&S. Again, lack of stuffing. Come on people – what is this!
The Co-op
Turkey and Trimmings £2.95
Turkey, cranberry sauce, smoked bacon, stuffing, mayo, malted bread
Image: Birmingham Mail
Presentation: ?? ?
Bread consistency: ???
Sauce to filling ratio: ????
Overall flavour: ???
Value for money: ???
Depth of sarnie: ????
Christmas magic: ?? ??
Total: 24/35
Our third sarnie to try was co-op’s classic Christmas offering. We finally found the stuffing we were looking for which was a big hit but there was a little bit too much sauce for our liking. Overall, the sandwich was a good try with all the right components but it lacked flavour. Maybe we’re getting too picky…
Waitrose
Turkey, Stuffing & Bacon £3.20/ Brie, Cranberry & Grape £2.75
Image: Birmingham Mail
Presentation: ????
Bread consistency: ???
Sauce to filling ratio: ????
Overall flavour: ????
Value for money: ????
Depth of sarnie: ????
Christmas magic: ????
Total: 27/35
We had high hopes for the Waitrose Christmas offering, and, as the numbers show, it didnt disappoint. We branched out, sampling the vegetarian sarnie, along with the traditional turkey and stuffing choice the consensus on both? Delish. The veggie option was described by our pro-tasters as cheesy with good layers, whilst the turkey sandwich contained good meat (as in, we could tell it was turkey) but the tasters werent keen on the orange chutney and the bread was a little dry.
Cobb Digital’s Sandwich Club
Turkey, Stuffing, Pigs in Blankets, Cranberry Sauce, Focaccia Bread £2
Image: Birmingham Mail
Presentation: ?????
Bread consistency: ?????
Sauce to filling ratio: ?????
Overall flavour: ?????
Value for money: ?????
Depth of sarnie: ?????
Christmas magic: ?????
Total: 35/35
Can you put a price on perfection? Apparently, yes, you can. £2.
Sandwich club started off as a dream. Can we do better than the same, boring, £3 meal deals that supermarkets churn out? Can we bring people closer together, to form a lunching community? Can we make lunches fun and cost effective?
In the words of Barack Obama, yes we can.
It is hard to do this sandwich justice in the words of mere mortals. Transcendent? Joy? Christmas miracle? Perhaps. The freshly baked focaccia provided the perfect base. Homemade cranberry sauce, with a bit of mayo, gave just the right amount of je ne sais quoi
paired with turkey breast meat from the crown, pigs in blankets, stuffing and just a smidgen of rocket why then my friend, you have a real Christmas sandwich. The veggie option featured brie, facon and stuffing (veggie friendly) too.
All for £2.
Supermarkets take note. We have had enough of your sub-par offerings. The people have spoken with their mouths and their wallets. Sandwich club is by the people, for the people. You can start one today grab you colleagues and chip in together make a buying and shopping rota and go and spend lunches together too.
Viva la revolución!
Stay tuned each week between now and the big day, to see how we rank the other Christmas sarnies…
