We know Christmas dinner is a BIG DEAL and the pinnacle of the year and everyone’s favourite meal etc. But let’s be honest, it’s been a YEAR and then some, so we’d forgive anyone for taking a few shortcuts and deciding to make the most of some of the white frankly amazing hampers, kits and delivery services available to lend a helping hand this year. We’ve rounded up a few of our faves to help you on your merry way.
1. Dispatch’s Christmas Menus
Feast-box delivery maestros Dishpatch have three rather epic festive menus for delivery on 23rd December. The Turkey Feast by Andrew Edmunds is a classic Christmas spread with all the trimmings, starters of Irish smoked salmon and beetroot & walnut pesto with chickpea pancake, sticky toffee pudding for dessert, and petits fours. 10 Greek Street’s The Beef Banquet is an indulgent feast of Christmas classics from Welsh ribeye to truffle gratin, with date & treacle pudding, Tunworth cheese and chocolate florentines to finish. Or for something a little different this Christmas Day, The Christmas Twist from Bubala, an entirely vegetarian festive feast inspired by the Middle-East.
For every box ordered, Dishpatch will donate £1 to homelessness charity StreetSmart, whose annual fundraising campaign in restaurants in November and December, whereby a voluntary donation is added to diners’ bills, has been made impossible by lockdown.
From £85 for two people
www.dishpatch.co.uk
2. The Ninth’s Christmas Box
Jun Tanaka’s Fitzrovia outpost The Ninth has designed something special this festive season. The Ninth’s Christmas Box is full of pre-prepped seasonal dishes with a luxurious twist, ready to go from box to table in just 45 minutes.
From £100 for two people. Pre-order on the website by 11th December for nationwide delivery on 23rd/24th December www.theninthlondon.com
3. Klose & Soan’s Christmas Banquets
Klose & Soan’s ready made Christmas Day banquets and Boxing Day Spreads each serve 4-6 people and are packed with a selection of shows topping centrepieces, with all the essential trimmings, including pigs in blankest and goose fat potatoes. A variety of free range birds are on offer, sourced from Colchester-based Rare Breed Butchers, while vegetarians can enjoy a rather delicious sounding winter squash and porcini mushroom wellington.
Available to order now from £160, for collection or delivery slots from 22nd - 24th December from www.kloseandsoan.co.uk
4. The Cinnamon Club’s Home Feasts
For something a little different, spice up your Christmas with the brand new ‘Feast at Home’ kits from Vivek Singh’s acclaimed Indian restaurant, The Cinnamon Club. These ready-to-cook festive kits can be ordered until the 18th for delivery in Christmas week, and are packed with everything you need to make the restaurant’s signature celebratory dishes at home, along with recipe cards and spice kits. Three different menus are available including the Shaan – E – Raan, with a whole slow-braised Mughal style Kentish lamb leg. The Cinnamon Club restaurant at Old Westminster Library will also be open on Christmas Day with a festive menu priced at £125 per person.
From £100, order online from www.thecinnamoncollection.com/shop
5. The Black Farmer’s Boxing Day Hamper
Speaking of Boxing Day, The Black Farmer’s Boxing Day Hamper is packed with pork pie, gluten-free pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, chipolatas, honey roast ham, cheeses, vegan curried butternut squash and spinach pie and luxury boozy mince pies to finish you off. The Devon-based brand founded by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE is famous for its gluten-free sausages, available in all major supermarkets.
Boxing Day Hamper £65 from www.theblackfarmer.com
6. Morrisons Christmas Dinner Box
Morrisons’ Christmas Dinner Box aims to offer customers their easiest ever festive meal. Ordered online for delivery on the 22nd and 23rd December, the £50 16-piece box contains all the festive favourites needed to feed a family of four on the big day, from turkey and all the trimmings to a cheese board and crackers and a festive yule log.
Order online at www.morrisons.com/food-boxes
7. Allplants Feast Box
Vegans needn’t miss out thanks to allplants’ Feast Box, for a plant-based Christmas roast with all the trimmings. Delicious walnut and cranberry loaf, juicy cranberry sauce and a line up of side including crispy roast potatoes, rosemary roasted veggies, truffle cauliflower cheese and spiced red cabbage, finishing with a tiramisu cheesecake or sticky banoffee pudding. What’s more, with every limited edition box*, allplants will donate £5 to Choose Love charity, who provide essential items for refugees across the globe.
£49.99 for a two-course roast dinner for four people, or two dinners for two. www.allplants.com
8. The Christmas Day Hamper from Full Monty Events
If a hassle-free Christmas is what you’re after, the hamper from Monty Cleveley’s Full Monty Events is the full works. With pre-prepared luxurious meals for Christmas Day brunch and lunch, plus canapés – all you need to do is pop them in the oven. From a smoked salmon and avocado Christmas Day breakfast, to your roast with all the trimmings, not to mention the Neal’s Yard cheeseboard, you will end up as stuffed as the turkey. You can also buy additional add-ons, such as paired drinks, decorations, crackers and hand-written menus.
£95 from www.fullmontyevents.co.uk
9. Morton’s Family Farm
North Norfolk family farm Morton’s is offering a range of luxurious Christmas hampers this year, filled with their Great Taste Award winning Norfolk Bronze turkey. With three sizes available, they have all the essentials covered from smoked salmon and pigs in blankets, free-range pork and chestnut stuffing, oak smoked chicken and duck breasts and Christmas pudding, they make for an indulgent festive feast.
From £85 at www.mortonsfamilyfarm.co.uk
10. Feed London
We’re ending on a slightly different note. Miracles Charity has launched a major new initiative to support vulnerable families on Christmas Day. Containing all the ingredients to prepare a festive Christmas meal, Feed London’s food boxes will be delivered to some of the thousands of families predicted to go without a meal on Christmas Day in London.
By donating £25 people can give the gift of Christmas dinner. Businesses and corporations are also invited to purchase a complete family hamper for £175. Feed London desperately needs the support of the London community – from local business and from local citizens in each borough. Even before the pandemic, in 2019, the Greater London Authority estimated that 400,000 children aged 16 or under faced food poverty and food insecurity. The Feed London Christmas box contains all the ingredients to produce Christmas dinner complete with recipes, traditional Christmas crackers, aprons for the children (so they can cook on the big day), a supermarket voucher, Christmas pudding and vegan options.
Buy a box and donate at www.feedlondon.org priced at £25 per Christmas dinner, or £175 for the complete family hamper.
