Co-op Boxing Day Lunch.

This sandwich is the sandwich equivalent of watching Love Actually with a mug of supermarket mulled wine. Yes, it's not perfect but you know what you're getting and it makes you happy. 

We ate the Boxing Day sandwich several times last year and I don't think the contents have changed much this year. 

The fillings are even and we don't mind the smoked turkey as it goest well with the coleslaw. It's a good bargain as you can get it in a meal deal. It doesn't linger in your mouth or make you feel too stuffed. The Boxing Day Sandwich isn't trying to swipe you off your feet; just a good sandwich bringing some festive cheer. 

We've eaten it before, we'll eat it again and we'll definitely be disappointed if it's not around next year. 

A solid 8/10

Starbucks Brie and Fig Chutney

We've eaten a lot of chutney recently and I have to say the fig chutney here was probably the nicest. The ciabatta was nice and not too tough and chewy like some ciabattas. The brie was quite generous and of good quality. We were offered the chance to warm this up, which we didn't take as we weren't going to eat it for a few hours, but I can imagine that this would be nice toasted.

Betther than expected. Another good option for vegetarians 7/10

Starbuck' Christmas Club

Whenever people ask about our sandwich eating last year and ask us what was the best, we always rate Starbucks highly so we were hoping for good things again this year. Sadly, Starbucks didn't up their game, or even equal last year's efforts. Yes, this is a reasonable sandwich, and we do actually like the rare addition of cheese in a festive turkey sandwich, BUT there was just nothing special to this one. 

The chutney was ok but 'real ale' isn't festive enough and there could have been more of it. Disappointingly the sandwich wasn't as full as last year. The stuffing was pretty standard; nothing to write home about.

Passable but we could have made better at home. 6.5/10 

Tescos Pulled Pork, Spiced Chutney and Beetroot Slaw Bioche

Tesco really bought into a lot of 2014-2015 food fads here by including pulled pork and brioche. To be honest, I think pulled pork has really had it's day. We also worried that this was pushing the festive title a little and Erin went as far as to say she really wanted to hate this sandwich before she ate it.

 However, all that aside, this was  actually pretty good. The flavours worked well together, the meat wasn't too sweet and the brioche was tasty. The spiced chutney was tasty and brought the much needed festive element to the sandwich. 

A not-particularly-festive-but-quite-tasty 7.5/10

Tesco Brie and Mulled Wine Chutney

I was off school ill with a chest infection when we ate this one and I hated it. I didn't finish it and I thought that the mulled wine chutney made the cheese taste rotten BUT I'm prepared to accept my taste buds weren't reliable at the time so I'm going to take Erin's lead on this one.

Erin thought the bread was good and the cheese was nice but she wasn't convinced by the mulled wine chutney. She commented that Tesco's Finest range is leaps and bounds a head of the normal Tesco range but it's still not a patch on the Co-op speciality range.

Mixed reviews from us 5/10. 

Tesco Classic Prawn Cocktail.

Now this was a far more festive attempt at a prawn sandwich. Anyone who was ever dragged to a Christmas do in the 80s and 90s will have eaten something just like this as a starter. An ample amount of sauce, crisp lettuce, soft bread and a generous helping of lettuce to crisp and freshen it up.

Like listening to Mariah Carey while untangling your Christmas tree lights.  6/10

Boots Festive Triple

Of course, the prospect of a three course meal in a sandwich is exciting but there was always the concern that it wasn't going to be done well.

The salmon and prawns had more of a Christmas breakfast vibe: there were herbs and cream cheese involved. We personally think that a bit of a crap prawn cocktail can actually bring Christmasy vibes and so we were hoping for that. We would have preferred a bit of Marie Rose sauce; this offering just didn't have enough Christmas connotations to warrant the festive label.

Next up was the turkey. It was a good, basic turkey sandwich but in no way top of the range. It did the simple things well: good moisture, passable turkey and a nice stuffing. This sandwich without the other two would have scored higher.

Finally, the cheddar and fig. This was oversold and sounded much fancier than the reality. It didn't deliver. The fig chutney was festive enough but it was minimal and the slice of cheddar was sub-standard and over-provessed. In Erin's words, "You'd have been better off just sniffing a Christmas plug in and eating a slice of cheese."

5.5/10. Boots hold have focused on doing one thing well, not three things averagely.