I tried Cote’s full Christmas dinner in a box – I was seriously surprised and it rivals Tesco and Sainsbury’s on price
THERE’S nothing like a home cooked Christmas dinner with family or friends, tucking into turkey and all the trimmings.
But spending more time in the kitchen than celebrating with loved ones is a major draw back.
Côte at home solves that with a restaurant-quality home-delivered full Christmas meal that you just bung in the oven.
But how does it compare to the real deal? I gave it a go to find out - and was seriously surprised.
First impressions
The big blue box arrived at my door containing a dozen or so items in microwave-meal style containers and vacuum packed bags promising to feed four to six people for £124.95 with minimal prep.
The boxes are available for home delivery from December 18 to 23, but Cote recommends ordering on 21 or after if you’d like it fresh for Dec 25.
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It's certainly easier than scrabbling for supermarket delivery slots or heading to the hectic aisles at bricks and mortar stores.
Centre stage is a 2-2.5kg British turkey crown from Larchwood Farm, East Anglia, which comes with a festive salt (100g) for seasoning.
There are 12 pigs in blankets - slightly larger than your usual supermarket cocktail chipolata - which also come with a spiced honey sauce (70g).
As my fave side for Christmas dinner, I was excited to try the twist on traditional dish, but was a little concerned over how few there were.
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There’s also a posh take on the traditional festive veg with a sprout gratin (650g) containing a cheesy sauce.
There’s a generous serving of spuds (2g) that helpfully come fully prepped - peeled, seasoned and oiled up and ready to go straight in the oven.
Braised red cabbage (600g), rainbow carrots (500g) sage and onion stuffing (to make 12 balls) complete the line up.
Not forgetting the essentials for any festive feast, there was a generous 600g helping of shallot and thyme gravy.
It all looked seriously mouth-watering and despite the large box (well filled with ice packs to keep everything fresh) it all fit comfortably on one shelf of the fridge.
The cooking
The instructions were clearly printed on two sides of A4 paper, but they can also be found online.
First were listed the items and the cooking times for each - handy for an overview of what’s needed.
More detailed instructions followed with the order and what prep was needed for each dish.
And when I say prep - this is no more than decanting the item onto a baking tray or dish, seasoning the turkey or rolling the stuffing into balls.
With just 12 steps to a full Christmas dinner it appeared fairly straightforward - and turned out to be just that.
The instructions were fool-proof and I think it would be incredibly hard for the most amateur cooks (of which I’m one) to go wrong.
What's on the menu?
- British turkey crown from Larchwood Farm, East Anglia (2-2.5kg)
- Festive salt (100g)
- Pig in blankets (12) with spiced honey sauce (70g)
- Sprout gratin (650g)
- Potatoes (2kg)
- Braised red cabbage (600g)
- Rainbow carrots (500g)
- Sage and onion stuffing (to make 12 balls)
Stick the turkey in for an hour, baste it, then back in.
Then, do the same thing 30mins later, also taking off the foil from the turkey (to give it time to go golden) and back in the oven along with roasties.
Then 30mins later the turkey comes out to rest, while pigs in blankets, carrots, stuffing and sprouts go in for 30mins.
Cabbage and gravy can either be done in the microwave or slowly heated up on the hob just before you take everything out.
All in, the whole thing took just 2 hours and 30 minutes to cook, with just a fraction of that time actually needing your attention.
The taste
I was dubious as to whether the meal would really live up to home cooked standards. But I needn't have been.
I was seriously surprised at how - with such little input - I could serve up such a large and tasty meal.
The turkey, which can often be dry, was moist with a crispy golden top.
As it was a crown rather than full bird, it contains just the breast meat and I found I didn't miss the other parts like leg meat as the prime cut was spot on.
The cheesy creamy sprouts were a revelation, too. While they sounded heavy in an already rich line up, they were surprisingly light and added a different flavour to the meaty meal.
The carrots were a colourful array of purple, yellow and white, which have subtly different flavours to your typical orange. I especially liked the peppery and earthy purple ones.
I really enjoyed the twist of honey on piggies and those who don’t can just leave the sauce off.
Controversially, when it comes to potatoes, I can take them or leave them, and they are often left on my plate. But these were crispy and fluffy, a perfect combo, and I even helped myself to a second.
Along with the cabbage, stuffing and gravy, this was an A* line up. I had no notes and would happily eat it all again. In fact I did.
The meal is said to serve four to six people. Initially I thought six would be a stretch, or that it would be largely bulked out by potatoes as there were so many.
But the turkey was huge, and the ratio of meat, veg and carbs were spot on.
With two main servings when it was cooked, I was kept in leftovers for a further three days - eight very healthy servings in total.
The only thing you'll need to buy on top is condiments like cranberry sauce and bread sauce.
Plus, my tip would be to buy disposable foil trays to minimise time washing up as well as cooking.
The verdict
There’s no question that getting everything delivered fully prepped to just whack in the oven will make Christmas Day a breeze.
There's no peeling potatoes, cutting sprouts or wrapping sausages in bacon.
And who's going to miss a trip to the supermarket at the busiest time of the year?
Traditionalists might miss boiled sprouts and a full bird on the menu - but many of the dishes are well beyond my capabilities of cooking from scratch, and I felt there was a perfect balance between classics and interesting flavours.
Some might even miss the traditions of spending time preparing food for Christmas - but not me.
At £124.95 all in there's no denying it's pricey looking on first appearance - but I was surprised again after doing the maths.
It works out as £31 per person serving four people or £21 per person serving six.
If like me though, you serve eight, either on the day or in leftovers, then you can get it down to just £15.63 per head.
It’s not the cheapest way to feed the family over the festive season - but only just.
Tesco is promising a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for four for £60 (£50 with Clubcard). That's £15 per head or £12.50.
Sainsbury’s has a roast in a box for £45 serving four and cooks in just 55mins - or £11.25 per person.
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Of course you can make a Christmas roast far more frugally - even for as little as little as £3.75, one mum told The Sun.
But if you can afford to treat yourself (and what better time than at Christmas), Cote’s Christmas dinner in a box is worthwhile investment for top quality food, less stress and maximising quality family time.