Just as the three wise men brought offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh, British supermarkets bring Christmas dinner pizza, Brussels sprouts chocolate rolls, and Yorkshire pudding wraps.
British supermarkets at this time of year are filled with golden nuggets of weird, wonderful and verging on just-plain-wrong specials.
Stumbling across one is a great feeling, and you have to tell everyone.
Let’s face it, if there’s one thing to guarantee a laugh on Christmas day, it’s pulling out a novelty sweet treat, and this year’s selection of supermarket specials will have the in-laws raving about you until Easter.
Our list of the maddest supermarket specials is the middle aisle on steroids.
Read on to find some truly shocking and not-quite-right inventions. Make sure you read all the way because we crown the wackiest winner at the bottom… trust us, you’ll want to get your hands on this.
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Tiramisu-flavoured Dessert Sauce
Aldi
We learnt quickly when researching this list, Aldi is the King of crazy supermarket goodies.
Specially-selected by Aldi themselves, you can turn anything into tiramisu – a Christmas miracle.
Think of all the fun you could have with this little flavour machine you could pour over brownies, dip strawberries but promise us you won’t swap it for gravy.
Hold on tight, we’re getting into the slightly darker recesses of Asda here.
A pigs in blanket slice – we’ll leave it for you to decide whether that’s going straight in your basket. Could be good in bread – could not. We’re on the fence about these, but for those who think a cocktail sausage is just not enough, this one’s for you.
Couldn’t think of anything better to go with a cuppa on Christmas day. Marks and Spencer have smashed it out the supermarket with these. Though not weird, they are just really cute and deserve a place on the list because, well, they’re bitesize sticky toffee puddings.
Guaranteed to bring a smile – would you dunk them in the brew though?
Christmas Tinner. A force to be reckoned with. Where to begin. At the top seems the only option, which, by the way, is scrambled egg.
Stuff to make your stomach turn, Christmas Tinner defies all culinary laws.
Scrambled egg and bacon is followed by two mince pies. Then turkey and potatoes, gravy, a layer of bread sauce and cranberry sauce. You’ve got your brussels sprouts with stuffing, roasted carrots and parsnips and, if you make it that far, Christmas pudding.
Wow, buy this and you’ll be the cat that got the squirty chocolate cream. Imagine a dollop on your Christmas eve hot chocolate or just straight down the hatch, the right way.
A simple can of goodness – this one’s sure to be a family favourite.
Yorkshire Pudding Wraps
Morrison’s
Can’t get enough of Porky Pig’s Yorkshire pudding wraps at the Christmas markets?
No fear – Morrison’s mean you make them at home. Cook from frozen and they are a really tasty Christmas treat. Chicken, stuffing and gravy all wrapped up in a Yorkshire pudding just an oven’s cook away.
Winning combination of one of our favorite puddings, the Vienetta, and an after dinner treat, the infamous After Eight.
The two come together to make the King of all after dinner experiences.
Try and imagine what that would taste like – all we know is that with those two, you can’t go wrong.
Hershey’s Cookies N Cream Ice Cream Cake
Iceland
Credit: Facebook (Daniel Christopher Chubb)
The alternative Christmas pudding.
Popularity for the Christmas pudding is thinning on the ground, so why not make a new tradition with ice cream cake. It’s cold to represent the frosty weather outside, but has cookies for the warm inside which represents, oh we don’t know, some new traditions just don’t need explaining.
Crowned winner of the most wonderful Christmas specials to grace our humble supermarkets. Marks and Sparks have seriously outdone themselves.
Appearing simply as a domed desert, most people would pass it by as a pretty Christmas cake, but take a hammer to this thing and you unlock Santa’s grotto. Tasty treats lay beneath this dome and it’s only a layer of white chocolate between you and all the sweets you could wish for.
Cracking idea (excuse the pun) and fun for all. Beneath is a creamy Madeira cake filled with buttercream and jam – what’s not to like?
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Featured Image – NewfoodsUK | M&S Tunbridge Wells
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Road to Victory returns for massive Euro 2025 final screening at AO Arena
Danny Jones
England are in another final, and you know what that means: Road to Victory is returning to Manchester for another massive screening at the AO Arena as England’s women’s team prepare to defend their Euros trophy.
Sarina Weigman’s side made it to their second consecutive European final on Tuesday night following more late drama for the Lionesses against Italy.
The squad, which has seen a number of personnel changes since Euro 2022, managed to make it through to the final in the eleventh hour thanks to another stoppage-time equaliser from Michelle Agyemang and even more tense follow-up from a scuffed spot-kick by Chloe Kelly.
Will they ever stop giving us heart palpitations at major tournaments? Probably not, but the big watchalong party inside the AO Arena, which will see thousands turn up to watch the Euro 2025 final, is sure to deliver plenty of excitement either way.
For anyone unfamiliar with the massive fan zone – one of THE biggest in all Europe, in fact – Road to Victory is the unparalleled supporter party by AIX (Amplified Immersive Xperiences) Live, who specialise in the top-end of audio-visual matchday viewing vibes.
Having hosted huge screenings for the previous men’s Euros and the Qatar World Cup, and even inspiring a massive watchalong of last season’s Europa League final at the venue, Road to Victory (RtV) is just about as big and bold as it gets.
Think BOXPARK in London only bigger, more interactive and, dare we say it… better?
Yes, we do dare say it; having attended RtV on multiple occasions since it landed here back in 2022, we can confirm you won’t find an atmosphere quite like it anywhere else. At least not in Greater Manchester, anyway.
Case and point:
With doors to the women’s Euros screening opening at 4pm, there’ll be plenty of time for pre-match build-up before the game gets underway, and there’ll be plenty of entertainment, light displays, food, drinks and more – it’s just up to Manchester fans to be in full voice.
The Women’s European Championships certainly have a more all-ages, family-friendly feel to them, but Road to Victory and the AO Arena are still ensuring they deliver a palpable match-day energy.
Tickets are already live following England’s place in the last two of the Women’s Euros now confirmed, it’s merely a matter of securing yours and finding out who, out of Germany and Spain, will meet them in the final this weekend.
Once again, the 2025 Women’s Euros final kicks off at 5pm on Sunday, 27 July, and you can grab your tickets for the Road to Victory screening at the AO Arena in Manchester right HERE.
Live football to be prescribed by some GPs to help treat patients with depression
Danny Jones
Live football looks set to be prescribed by a section of the NHS in an effort to try and help people suffering from depression.
As part of the experimental new wellbeing and mental healthcare initiative, GPs across the UK could soon be able to suggest watching football in person as part of their wider treatment plans.
While it may sound like a somewhat unorthodox approach, it’s sparked plenty of conversation on social media and is already gathering some steam up and down the country.
The scheme is being pioneered by Labour MP, Dr Simon Opher, the representative for Stroud, as well as Ecotricity owner and green industrialist, Dale Vince.
Today we’ve announced Football On Prescription. Football clubs up and down the country and up and down the leagues can take part in this – and I hope they will. Mental health is a big issue, as are loneliness and isolation. One of the superpowers of football is its inclusivity -… pic.twitter.com/OWNOag6Fcc
‘Prescribed footy’, to coin a somewhat jarring colloquialism, is set to be rolled out to relevant patients across the Gloucestershire region diagnosed with depression and some other mental health conditions.
Those on the receiving end of these prescriptions will be offered free tickets to watch local National League side, Forest Green Rovers (FGR), based in the town of Nailsworth.
Vince, who founded Ecotricity – formerly known as Renewable Energy Company – back in 1995, bought Forest Green back in 2010 and is just passionate about football and mental health as the push for clean energy and environmental causes.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio in an interview on Tuesday, 22 July, the 64-year-old Norfolk-born OBE said: “We just do the things that we see, that we think could be done, should be done, that will help; whether it’s helping our planet, our country – people here [in Gloucestershire]…
“When you attend football matches, particularly regularly, you find yourself a part of something, a part of a group of people with a common purpose. It’s a wonderful social experience that we think would be really good for people suffering from mental health problems.”
Despite some doubters and detractors questioning his motives online and in the media, he insists the sentiment is purely altruistic, and FGR hope to aligning itself with big causes like mental health, even making the first fully vegan-certified football kits ahead of the 2025/26 season.
He also went on to add, “We also won’t take adverts or sponsorship from gambling companies: they do great harm in our society.”
As for Dr Opher, he has continued to champion ‘social prescribing’ across his medical and political career, backing it as a viable alternative to common medication such as antidepressants for some individuals with mild-moderate depression.
The live football on presecption concept has been met with plenty of pushback online, including lots of discourse surrounding priorities and the NHS remaining underfunded, but only time will tell how well these early trials go.
What do you make of the idea of football being put forward as an aid for depression and do you think it should be considered by the NHS at large?
Dolly Busby -
17th December 2021 
