Shapers Turkey, Stuffing & Redcurrant Sandwich (Boots)

Today I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you the weekly highlight of my lunches. For a long time now I've looked forward to my Monday Boots Meal Deal, courtesy of o2's priority scheme. As a student I rarely buy sandwiches, instead I make and take my own in to uni with me as a far cheaper option. Normally I mix up the mains part of the meal deal between the various sandwiches, wraps, salads and sushi (of which there are a fabulous selection) but for the past 6-7 weeks I have been ruthlessly sticking to their Limited Edition Turkey,Stuffing & Redcurrant sarnie. Nothing beats a festive sammie. Well maybe a fish finger or sausage butty does, but as far as cold sarnies go Christmas is King.

"Cooked Turkey breast, pork, sage and onion stuffing mayonnnaise with cranberry and redcurrant sauce and spinach on malted bread."

Every Monday the bread has been soft with a welcome earthiness thanks to the malted nature of it. There's always a plentiful supply of spinach too which is perhaps an odd choice for a festive sandwich (I sure as hell don't have spinach on Xmas day anyway) but I'm grateful for the nod to some kind of veg -and lettuce just wouldn't work here either. 

Week-on-week the turkey is good too; it's moist and retains about as much flavour as you're going to get from the traditional Christmas bird. The cranberry and redcurrant sauce is tart enough to err on the right side of sweet, and complements the meat well. The reason why I'm addicted to this sammie however is the pork, sage and onion stuffing mayonnaise. I love a good stuffing (oo-er), and Boots have been very smart to incorporate it into the sauce rather than keep it as a separate layer. For me the biggest selling point of this sandwich is so often its downfall too. The amount of mayo is very hit and miss, some days it's smothering the turkey (just how I like it) and others it's like Boots' sarnie makers are running out of fillings (see today's pathetic covering below). Boo. 

The disappointment is just about bearable and I'll keep opting for the Turkey, Stuffing & Redcurrant Sandwich every week -and it'll be sorely missed come New Year. It's not as decadent or as filling as M&S' Pigs & Blankets sarnie, but it is a damn site cheaper (even at full price) and kinder on the waistline -I've got to make room for all the snacks to review after all! 

8/10 

NEW! Turkey & Pigs In Blankets Festive Sandwich (M&S)

Happy advent all! Have you opened the first window of your advent calendar yet?

It's fair to say that I've got into the festive Sammie spirit this year. Well on Mondays I have at least; it's the one day I'll stump up the money for a meal deal thanks to O2's £1 Boots offer. Every week I make sure that I get into my local branch early enough to grab their Turkey, stuffing and redcurrant sauce Sammie -and it's just about the only thing that gets me through a 3 hour session with the world's worst lecturer that afternoon.

There's another festive sarnie that I keep hearing about however, in fact my best friend Nat and fellow foodie Zoe both messaged me on the same day and told me that I just had to try Marks & Sparks Turkey & Pigs In Blankets sandwich. It certainly sounded tempting, after all pigs in blankets are the very best part of Christmas Dinner (I'm not even entertaining anyone who disagrees). The trouble is, it's just so damn expensive, and I'm reticent to spend the equivalent of 12 full size bars of Galaxy on two bits of bread and some filling -especially as I know which I'd enjoy more!  Fortunately I left lectures on Tuesday at M&S reducing time and spotted the famous sarnie for £1.05. At that price I just had to try it, if not only to just know whether it lived up to the high praises it had earned from my amigos.

"British pork sausages and smoked British bacon, roast British turkey breast, cranberry chutney, spices mayonnaise and spinach on sage and onion bread."

The first thing I noticed was just how thick the bread was. I'm used to medium cut bread with Boots, and Warburtons Protein Bread at home, so I wondered how I'd get my severely clicky jaw around the Sammie. Luckily, I managed it somehow.

The bread was soft, and I found that the sage and onion flavour was a wonderful nod to the traditional Christmas stuffing. I expected cocktail sized sausages in the filling given that it's a pigs in blankets sandwich, but instead they were full size bangers. I'm not moaning here, as a sausage lover (oo-er) I was more than happy to get more meat for my money. They were succulent and well flavoured too, working in harmony with the many pieces of streaky bacon.  There wasn't much of the turkey in comparison, but I didn't mind too much -I really would've had to dissect the sandwich to eat it if it had been even thicker.

The cranberry chutney was lingering somewhere in the background, a good job really because the flavour can often be overpowering, and the meat was (quite rightly) very much the star of the Sammie show. As for the other sauce -the 'spiced' mayonnaise- I could barely notice it, which was a slight shame considering the stuffing mayo in Boots' Sammie is my favourite element.

All in all, this was a pretty damn good festive Sammie, and it was very filling too -which I would've especially appreciated if I forked out the full whack at £3. It's worth noting that part of the profits do go to the homeless charity Shelter -but it's only a measly 5%- surely you can do better than 15p Marks & Sparks, it is Christmas after all!

9/10