‘I tried the £2 Christmas dinner in a can – and it defies expectations’

Heinz raised eyebrows with its creative approach to festive dining, which saw soup fans rushing to the shops to try it out. Writer John Jones managed to get his hands on a tin – here’s what he thought

Christmas dinner is one of the most delicious meals going, so it is no surprise foodies love to enjoy the classic dish in as many ways as possible. Options include your traditional roast, the leftover sandwich combo, and now, there’s Christmas dinner in a can. Or a soup can, to be exact.

Heinz wowed shoppers last year, with the release of 500 limited-edition cans of The Christmas Dinner Big Soup. But after the cans sold out in hours, the favourite came back with a bang this Christmas, when 20,000 tins, including a vegan version, went on sale at selected Asda stores across the country.

In the weeks since, fans have been going wild trying to get their hands on a tin – and some sellers have listed the cans on eBay, where one entrepreneur has listed three for £44.99.

Well, in good news for anyone left wondering how the delicacy tastes, Wales Online reporter John Jones can answer that question. The bad news is you might wish you had a can yourself after hearing the results of his review.

Eager to put the delicacy to the test, he tried out the two cans, which cost £2 each. As John explained: “The classic version is made with turkey breast, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sprouts, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, and sage and onion stuffing balls.

It proved popular with soup fans across the world last year including Hollywood star Drew Barrymore who described it as ‘yummy’ and ‘hearty’.

“The vegan version, meanwhile, features a gravy-flavoured sauce with a variety of vegetables and vegan sausage and stuffing balls with Heinz reportedly ‘working hard all year to perfect our recipes’ and the decision to bring back the winter warmer described as a ‘no-brainer’.”

Here’s how he got on in his own words.

John said: “Ahead of this festive experiment I wasn’t exactly convinced by the merits of having the contents of a Christmas dinner crammed into a can. Sure, it’s cheap and takes just a few minutes to warm up in the microwave, but I had concerns about the all-important taste element. Rather than a meal fit for a king or three I was envisioning mushy sausages, stringy veg, and a dry slab of turkey bobbing about in a bland, phlegmy gravy.

“After opening the first can (the classic version) the sight that met me did little to convince me otherwise. With a rogue sprout floating at the top of the tin my meal made an unsettling plop as I poured it into a microwavable bowl and nuked it for two minutes.

“It didn’t look too different when it was heated up to be honest but, in fairness, there where was no way of making this meal look sexy. With an acute sense of trepidation, I tucked in knowing that one of the little pigs in blankets would likely be hot enough to melt the tastebuds off my tongue.

“It was piping hot all right and, to my surprise, the first spoonful was full of flavour. The sauce (or soup – I don’t know what to call it at this point) was thick, wholesome, and really well-seasoned, like the kind of gravy everyone sets out to make but usually falls short of achieving.”

He added: “The vegetables were soft but didn’t cross the border into mushiness with the parsnips and carrots particularly sweet and tasty. Meanwhile the sausages, my partner commented, ‘tasted like real sausages’ – whatever that is meant to mean. But they tasted good – again well-seasoned with the saltiness of the bacon also detectable among the madness of this festive stew.

“There wasn’t too much turkey in my helping, which I wasn’t really bothered about anyway, but there were plenty of the sage and onion stuffing balls which, despite their interesting texture, were the star of the show for me.

“The vegan offering was similarly pleasing with the absence of meat barely noticeable and more than made up for with more of that sweet, sweet veg. I’m not a vegan myself but have enjoyed quite a few plant-based ‘meat’ products before, many of them disappointing. That was not the case here with the veggie sausages tasting just like the ‘taste like real sausages’ sausages in the classic version and the stuffing balls just as moreish.”

The foodie concluded: “I may have been sceptical, but, as I finished my second helping, I had to admit I was a convert to the Christmas dinner in a can. Will I be serving it up on December 25? Probably not. But it definitely makes for a delicious winter warmer.

“With two empty bowls I had learnt two valuable lessons from my tasting experience. One: never judge a soup by its cover. And two: always, always trust Drew Barrymore.”

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