As if this year wasn’t running away with us fast enough already, ASDA has just revealed its Christmas food range for 2020.
It’s not even August and we’re already talking about the festive season, but if the treats and tipples making up ASDA’s Christmas range this year is anything to go by, then we’re definitely not complaining.
Finally, there’s something to look forward to.
If you’re the type of person who likes to plan well in advance, then you’re in luck because the UK supermarket chain has given shoppers a sneak peak into what they can expect to see on shelves later this year. From party and buffet foods, to a selection of main courses, desserts and even a cheese roulette, there’s certainly some real stand-outs to tuck into.
Fancy an early preview? Here’s just a few of ASDA’s festive feast treats coming in December.
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Main Courses & Sides
You’re not going to be stuck for choice this year.
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ASDA is spoiling us with a great selection of mains including an Easy Carve Boneless Turkey Centrepiece, a Vegan Turkey Joint, and Slow Cooked Beef Shin. Fans of last year’s best-selling 12-piece Pigs in Blanket Centrepiece will be pleased to hear that the retailer is bringing it back once again this year, along with a new Giant Pig in Blanket Sausage Roll too.
ASDA
Other mains and sides in the range this year include a Cauliflower Cheese, Sweet Potato & Cranberry Wellington – which is described as “creamy, rich and hard to resist” – and a Christmas Dinner Parcel, which comes filled with turkey breast, wrapped around a classic pork, sage and onion stuffing, with chopped sprouts, lashings of smoked bacon and finished with a port glaze.
Can you just imagine how ace a ‘leftovers butty’ would taste with that?
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Desserts & Sweets
We’ve all got a ‘dessert hole’ in our stomachs, haven’t we?
Nothing tastes better than a dessert to finish off your Christmas dinner and this year, ASDA will be launching a Gingerbread Cheesecake, a Chocolate Orange Opera cake and some delicious Chocolate & Cherry Houses to name just a few.
The stand-outs here include a ‘Bruce the Brussel Sprout’ Cake, and Reindeer Ice Cream Lollies.
ASDAASDA
When it comes to sweets and confectionary, ASDA isn’t leaving anything out here as some some brand-new Spiced Clementine Fudge, Sour Cherry Nougat, and Spiced Orange & Triple Sec Chocolate Cookies are all to be expected.
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A new and improved recipe for their much-loved Salted Caramel Mince Pies are also rumoured too.
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Party & Buffet Food
A lot of food does get consumed during the festive season, but there’s always room for more and ASDA has outdone itself this year when it comes to party and buffet food.
The retailer will be launching Salmon Mac & Cheese Bites, Chicken & Stuffing Layered Pork Pies, a vegan Bao Bun Selection, and, what is by far the stand-out, Pigs on Fire – a new pigs in blanket-inspired dish with cuts of British prime pork blended with Carolina Reaper hot chilli, perched in a jalapeño, and then wrapped in streaky bacon.
Only for the spice lovers amongst us by the sounds of things.
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Cheese
What’s Christmas without a cheese board?
ASDA has really thought of it all this year and is set to offer everything from a simple but sublime British Farmhouse Cheese Stack, to a Cheese Roulette, yes a Cheese Roulette – which mixes both food and fun, with individually wrapped pieces of tangy cheese – to complete your feast.
Yum.
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Drinks
Back by popular demand, ASDA has confirmed the last year’s standout hit Mince Pie Gin Liqueur will be returning for 2020 and there’s bound to be plenty of people pretty pleased about that.
If mince pies aren’t quite your bag though, some other new additions – Gingerbread Gin Liqueur and Cranberry & Clementine Gin – will also be hitting shelves this year too, so there’s plenty to choose from to say cheers to this December.
It hasn’t yet been confirmed when the 2020 festive food range will be arriving in ASDA stores and online, so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled later on this year.
For more information, visit the ASDA website here.
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‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Shepherd’s pie named among classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next decade
Emily Sergeant
Shepherd’s pie has been named among the classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next 10 years.
From a hearty roast dinner on a Sunday, to a slap-up full English breakfast to start the day, classic British dishes have become staples on dinner tables across the nation, all known and loved for their comforting flavours and cultural significance… but apparently, Google searches for ‘shepherd’s pie recipe’ are down 55% in the past year, indicating that less and less people looking to create this traditional dish at home.
So with this in mind, air fryer giants Ninja Kitchen decided to carry out a new study by surveying 2,000 people and studying search trends for popular British dishes to uncover which meals are still loved, and which might be nothing more than a distant memory.
Shockingly, the new study revealed that shepherd’s pie could be facing extinction from early as 2027, with several other favourites dying out within a decade.
Shepherd’s pie takes the fifth spot on the top 10 list, as according to the study, the dish is experiencing a 0.76% weekly decline, and due to the fact only 5% of Brits would name it a ‘favourite’, this classic risks extinction by 2027.
Shepherd’s pie has been named among the classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next decade / Credit: Dennis J Wilkinson | Steven Depolo
Another shocker on the list has to been the beloved veggie dish cheese and onion pie, which takes the ninth spot thanks to its 0.41% weekly decline in searches.
However, the majority of the other dishes making up the top 10 list tend to be regional delicacies or dishes that are popular within certain dietary preferences, such as Glamorgan sausage – which takes the number one spot, with a 2% weekly search decline – Tatws Pum Munud, a nut roast, and a vegan roast dinner.
57% of the nation would be sad to see British staples fade away, according to the study, but 31% do appreciate the evolution of food trends.
The study also revealed that the growing popularity of takeaway and convenience food is the leading reason why people are moving away from traditional classics such as shepherd’s pie, with nearly half (46%) of respondents citing it as their main reason.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd July 2020 
