The woman&home Festive Food Awards 2024: Special Recognition awards winners

The festive season is a time of year when the market is saturated with new food launches all fighting for your attention. It can be difficult to wade through aisle after aisle of festive products and decide which to spend your money on to make your Christmas feast fantastic.

That's where the woman&home Festive Food Awards comes in. Hundreds of products were submitted to woman&home and our panel of experts shortlisted 30 of the best Christmas food products, drinks and retailers for 2024 from these entries.

Our team boasts many years of experience cooking and tasting new and innovative food and drink products. This makes them especially well suited when it comes to finding the best buys for Christmas, making the curation of your shopping list much easier.

In addition to our specific product awards, our judges have highlighted five of the best brands and retailers which have an exemplary range on offer for Christmas 2024.

From the best major retailer to artisanal producers who champion quality British produce, each of the winners has a wonderful selection of food and drink items which will ensure you have the most delicious Christmas yet.

Special Recognition awards winners

The best Christmas supermarket 2024: Waitrose & Partners

Having recently relaunched their No.1 range it seems appropriate that Waitrose & Partners nabbed the number one spot winning the best supermarket for their festive food range across all our categories. We tasted everything blind so our scores weren’t skewed by branding, but the quality of the products we tested stood out.

During the blind tastings, across a range of festive food categories, Waitrose & Partners consistently took the number one spot or came in our top 3. Overall the food team awarded Waitrose & Partners more winners than any other brand. Rose Fooks said “I highly rate the quality of products from Waitrose, I was impressed they did so well, but I wasn’t really surprised!”

This year Waitrose returned with some annual favourites such as Hot Chocolate Coins and Brown Butter Mince pies that consistently score highly. In addition, Waitrose also delivered across more classic categories such as their tasty and easy to carve Glorious Treacle Glazed Turkey Crown, with higher welfare still at its core.

Waitrose also excelled in the ‘free from’ category. Although they narrowly missed out on the award for ‘The Best Gluten Free Christmas pudding’ Waitrose did scoop up the ‘Best Yule Log’ awarded to their vegan Yuletide offering. Winning for consistent quality and sheer quantity of winning products Waitrose is a destination for your Christmas food shop.

THE BEST ARTISANAL RETAILER 2024: DukesHill

Famous for its traditionally made hams, DukesHill offers a brilliant handcrafted range, from cheeses to mince pies and, of course, those award-winning pork products, which earned the company a Royal Warrant back in 2004.

Like last year, judges were very impressed with the Christmas Candied Orange Topped Ham, the perfect crowd pleaser that will make hosting a breeze. Judges were equally delighted by the rest of the range including a range of nibbles, smoked salmon and cheeses. Another stand-out product was the Proper Piccalilli, the perfect pairing for Boxing Day leftovers.

If you’re looking to send someone an extra special foodie gift their hampers are packed with plenty of festive goodies, including their delicious mince pies.

THE BEST ONLINE RETAILER 2024: Abel & Cole

Avoid the chaos of supermarkets at Christmas and buy excellent quality products with just the click of a button. As well as providing excellent festive fare from independent growers and makers, they also have great environmental credentials, sourcing the best organic food and reducing unnecessary packaging.

This year our judges rated Abel & Cole highly across the board for their Christmas staples. Consistently scoring highly for their renowned Organic KellyBronze Turkey which judges praised for its flavoursome and tender meat. Another top scorer from Abel & Cole was their Smoked Salmon Side. This delicious side comes ready-sliced and is great for feeding a crowd.

THE BEST BAKERY AND DESSERTS 2024: Iceland

Our best-kept secret, Iceland, was a huge hit with our judges this year, scoring highly for their baked goods and sweet treats. Expect classics like zingy Lemon Meringue Baked Alaska, their novelty White Chocolate Snowman as well as savoury bakes such as their Doughball Christmas Tree.

Judges were impressed with the value of their offerings, starting at as little as £4, meaning you can offer an array of desserts at your festive gathering without spending a fortune. Available in-store and online, make Christmas easy for yourself this year.

THE BEST GIFTS AND STOCKING FILLERS 2024: M&S

Your one-stop-shop for last minute presents and stocking fillers, M&S was a firm favourite in this category amongst our judges. Whether you’re on the lookout for something small to fill a stocking or a larger present to send, they cater for all occasions.

We know buying for a foodie can be tricky, but the quality and presentation of an M&S gift would go down a treat, we think. Their Swiss Truffles Cable Car Bauble at only £5 is filled with lovely choccies, plus there’s no need to wrap! If you’re after something a little bigger, their Collection Deluxe Christmas Hamper is brimming with buttery shortbread, 2 bottles of wine and lots of sweet and savoury nibbles, perfect for spreading Christmas cheer.