Which Christmas sandwiches pack more calories than a Big Mac?

It’s the second week of November, which can only mean one thing: Christmas sandwiches have hit the shelves at most supermarkets and cafes. You won’t be able to walk past a Greggs, Marks and Spencer or Costa without being offered countless versions of turkey and stuffing. Waitrose even has a triple-bird roast wrap.

Pret a Manger launched its range on Tuesday, November 10. The company claims it sold 625,000 of its Christmas Lunch sandwich last year in just two months.

But, like Christmas lunch itself, these sandwiches tend to be very calorific. Some alarmingly so. These 15 sandwiches all contain more calories than you can find in a Big Mac from McDonald’s (which contains 508 kcal).

Many contain nearly half the recommended amount of daily salt for an adult (6g). And, amazingly, the Greggs and Eat ones contain nearly half the amount of sugar found in a can of Coca-Cola (35g).

Here we list them all, and - with a taste panel made up of Telegraph writers - rate them out of 10 for taste.

Sainsbury’s

Triple Christmas Sandwich, £2.50

Cal: 646

Fat: 25.9g

Sugar: 11.6g

Salt: 2.54g

Wrong on so many levels. This is a three-course Christmas lunch in soggy sandwich form - a starter of smoked salmon, followed by turkey and all the trimmings, and a cheese course to finish off. None work. 3/10.

Pret a Manger

Brie and cranberry, £3.45

Cal: 613

Fat: 28.8g

Sugar: 7.6g

Salt: 2.26g

A big hit with the tasting panel. Some complained about not enough cranberry sauce, but I thought that meant the high-quality brie and nutty bread were allowed to sing. 9/10

Eat

Festive Full Works Bloomer £3.89

Cal: 599

Fat: 19.9g

Sugar: 15.8g

Salt: 3.1g

A heart-attack between two slices of bread. The bread can hardly contain the layers of protein: turkey, ham, pork stuffing. The dominant aftertaste is Paxo. 5/10

Marks and Spencer

Veggie feast, £2.80

Cal: 595

Fat: 34g

Sugars: 13.1g

Salt: 1.5g

This contains half an adult’s recommended fat allowance. The feature’s desk resident veggie said: “Ugh, poppy seeds. Too German!”. Well, without Prince Albert, would we even be celebrating the birth of Christ with a falafel and chestnut sandwich? Frohe Weihnachten! 6/10

Sainsbury’s

Christmas wrap lunch, £2.50

Cal: 591

Fat: 26.9g

Sugar: 6.6g

Salt: 2.33g

Astonishingly awful. It manages to pack huge amounts of calories in a tiny, gloopy, sweet, coleslaw-tasting wrap. Pity the poor turkey who died to end up in this. 1/10

WH Smith

Urban Eat Posh Nosh, cheeseboard & fig chutney sub roll, £3.99

Cal: 578

Fat: 25.4g

Sugar: 10g

Salt: 2g

This is a sandwich for stonkingly drunk revellers catching the last train home after a Christmas party. A desperate snack for desperate times. Rubbery cheddar, soapy chutney, and cardboard bread. 2/10

Marks and Spencer

Aberdeen Angus roast beef & Blacksticks blue, £3.90

Cal: 564

Fat: 27.3g

Sugar: 12.8g

Salt: 2g

Some of the taste panel loved the punchy flavours, other thought it was weird. The blue cheese predominates along with the red onion chutney. The beef is a bit lost. You can really taste the sugar. 5/10

Sainsbury’s

Boxing Day Sandwich, £2.50

Cal: 563

Fat: 29.4g

Sugar: 5.9g

Salt: 2.1g

I once had a sandwich from Poundland that tasted like this: bland coleslaw mixed with wallpaper paste. Has the ham ever seen a pig? Very poor. 2/10

Marks and Spencer

Turkey and pigs in blankets, £3.50

Cal: 552

Fat: 24.6g

Sugar: 9.9g

Salt: 2.2g

Lots of appreciative “aahs” about this one. It was unmistakably festive, possibly too much so, with strong nutmeg and clove spicing. As Christmassy and joyful as rosy-cheeked children singing carols. Unlike M&S’s bleak Xmas adverts. 8/10

Marks and Spencer

Turkey feast, £3.90

Cal: 546

Fat: 22.7g

Sugar: 9.4g

Salt: 2.08g

A good workaday, Christmas sandwich, with a good mix of turkey and stuffing and not too much mayo. Nothing to write to Santa about, though. 6/10

Cafe Nero

Four cheese and cranberry chutney festive Panini, £4.35

Cal: 544

Fat: 22.6g

Sugar: 13.3g

Salt: 2.2g

Pretty poor. Cheap, waxy brie with little punch is overwhelmed by the sweet chutney, which at least has hints of Midwinter. 5/10

Pret a Manger

Beef Wellington, £3.99

Cal: 544

Fat: 18.6g

Sugar: 3.9g

Salt: 2.13g

I’m not convinced beef Wellington is quintessentially Christmassy, but it’s a new member of the Pret festive range. The mushroom stuffing is bold, and the beef decent quality. Truly, this is beef Wellington in baguette. 8/10

Sainsbury’s

Turkey with pigs under blankets, £2.50

Cal: 537

Fat: 21.4g

Sugar: 11.6g

Salt: 2.68g

Not nearly as good as M&S’s rival version. The pork tasted rubbery and cheap. And where is all that sugar hidden? It tastes bland rather than sweet. 4/10

Greggs

Christmas lunch, £2.75

Cal: 530

Fat: 15g

Sugar: 15g

Salt: 2g

So dry, you’ll be scraping stuffing off the roof of your mouth until January. The slices of turkey are generous, I suppose. But the overwhelming taste is dried sage. Again - how can it possibly pack nearly 4 teaspoons of sugar? Baffling. 4/10

Pret a Manger

Christmas lunch, £3.60

Cal: 522

Fat: 19.3g

Sugar: 10.8g

Salt: 2.95g

A big hit in the office. It really is the classic Christmas sandwich - savoury, sweet, salty, fatty mouthfulls of meat and trimmings. The mayo, as with all Pret sandwiches, is possibly too thick. But the stuffing is top notch. 8/10