M&S PLANT KITCHEN VEGAN FESTIVE WREATH £10

Cals (per portion) 480

Fat 33g

Sat fat 4.6g

Sugar 10.1g

Fibre 18.2g

Protein 14.2g

Salt 2.5g

WHAT’S IN IT?

TO MAKE this squashed vegetable ‘sausage’, M&S has mixed roasted mushrooms, pumpkin seeds and chestnuts, added rice and lentils and topped it off with a cranberry and orange sugary glaze. There’s a host of Christmas spices, stabilising chemicals to prolong shelf life and, oddly, three types of added sugar.

VERDICT

A PORTION of this veggie wreath as healthy, if not slightly more, as a dinner of turkey, vegetables and potatoes cooked in a tablespoon of oil – low in calories and fat, but high in fibre, and containing a decent amount of protein. And you get a boost of zinc – essential for the immune system, brain function and healthy skin – from the pumpkin seeds. But there are two and a half teaspoons of sugar – more than two Oreo biscuits’ worth and nearly half a day’s intake of salt, six small bags of crisps’ worth.

TASTE TEST: Texturewise, it’s a bit like a clump of bird food, but it tastes OK. Note of warning to those who suffer from IBS: it’s fully of trigger foods that may result in a sudden toilet break.

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