Festive food goes crackers
Are seasonal twists on classics any better, or healthier, than traditional options? By James Moore
Sainsbury’s Pigs in Snowy Blankets What’s inside: Per pack - 382 cals, 13.2g fat, 13.6 sugar, 1.92g salt. Festive themed “sushi” rolls with sausage meat, cranberry sauce, seaweed and sticky rice.
Top TV dietician Nigel Denby (harleystathome.com) says: “Don’t be fooled into thinking because these are “sushi style” (rather than in pastry) that they’re any healthier. They are pretty salty and have quite a lot of sugar too!”
Heinz Christmas Dinner Soup What’s inside: Half can - 160 cals, 5.4g fat, 1.6g salt. Includes turkey, stuffing, brussels sprouts and even pigs in blankets.
Nigel says: “You’ll get more than a quarter of your day’s allowance of salt from just half a can of this soup.
“The calories and fat are not so bad, but eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure.”
Pret A Manger Christmas Stuffing Mac and Cheese What’s inside: 880 calories, 45g fat, 3g salt. This pork stuffing with pasta and cheese lunch would take nearly three hours to walk off.
Nigel says: “Stuffed with calories – mostly from fat rather than anything else – along with half your daily allowance of salt. I wouldn’t touch it.” Pret’s standard Macaroni Cheese Kale & Cauli Bake has ‘just’ 549cals...
Greggs Festive Bake
What’s inside: 453 cals, 27g fat, 1.7g salt. Filled with chicken plus sage and onion stuffing, their vegan festive bake actually has similar levels. Nigel says: “There are enough calories in this to equal a proper meat and two veg dinner – but there’s nothing here to really fill you up. Just a lot of fat, salt and a little protein.”
Tesco Cream Liqueur Popcorn
What’s inside: 1/8 bag - 104 cals, 2.1g fat, 0.4g salt. This portion has half the calories of a typical chocolate bar.
Nigel says: “Popcorn is a wholegrain snack which gives it plenty of nutritional pluses. Here there’s some fat, salt and sugar added too but it’s no worse than your usual sweetened popcorn.”
Morrisons Turkey and Stuffing Flavour Balls
What’s inside: Per 25g portion - 129 cals, 6.5g fat, 0.3g salt.
These nibbles are baked, not fried, which tends to make snacks less fatty.
Nigel says: “The salt and fat content is lower than you might expect so these aren’t too bad.”
Co-op Christmas Dinner Spring Rolls
What’s inside: Per spring roll - 64 cals, 2.2g fat, 0.18g salt. Turkey, stuffing and vegetables with cranberry sauce. Nigel says: “With turkey being the main ingredient here, calories and fat have been kept reasonably low as has salt, so these get the nutritional thumbs up.”
Domino’s ‘Festive One’ Pizza
What’s inside: Personal
Classic Crust - 1177 cals,
41g fat, 6.28g salt. Topped with turkey, sausage and bacon this meaty treat would take over two hours to run off. Nigel says: “This is packed full of fat [the average man aged 19 to 64 should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat daily…] and more salt than the recommended amount an adult should consume each day.”
Sauce Shop Brussels Sprout Ketchup
What’s inside: Per 100g 103 cals, 0.5g fat, 1.9g salt. Now at Sainsbury’s, the label says it’s 61 per cent sprouts.
Nigel says: “You’d struggle to claim this was part of your fivea-day, but this is pretty evenly placed nutritionally alongside regular ketchup.”
Harry Ramsden’s Battered Pigs in Blankets
What’s inside: 200 cals per serving of two, 13.7g fat, 1.1g salt. On sale at Iceland, two have around the same calories as a pint of beer. Nigel says: “Whilst the nutritional credentials per two pigs don’t look so bad, you have to remember that if these were sitting out on a Christmas buffet most of us would scoff more than that.”