• Turducken and Smoked Crackling Ham Rib Rack Roast among 150+ new products arriving in coming weeks
• New range of MasterChef Knives and an electric mini chopper for customers to collect
• Sustainable, plastic-free Coles Christmas crackers and decorations
13 October 2021
Summer 2021 is the season for great value and easy entertaining as we reconnect with loved ones, with Coles having done all the work so Aussies can relax and enjoy the most sustainable Christmas ever.
As Australians look forward to gathering with their friends and family over the festive season, Coles has unveiled its Christmas range for 2021, created to help customers enjoy an extraordinary experience that is both easy to prepare and offers great value.
According to Coles customer insights, October is when Australians start planning their Christmas entertaining, with the number of online searches for Christmas desserts and Christmas recipes on Taste.com.au surging more than three times the level seen in September.
Coles has made the planning and preparation easy, with over 150 new and improved products set to arrive in-store and online in the coming weeks. The range encompasses the complete Christmas experience from heat and eat gourmet entrées, savoury side dishes and salads, locally-sourced and show-stopping centrepieces for gatherings of any size, and tempting desserts – all of them needing little to no cooking preparation so that customers can enjoy more time catching up over a glass of their favourite festive refreshment while still impressing their guests.
The teams at Liquorland and First Choice Liquor Market have created Christmas drinks pairings that will make matching food and drink simpler than ever.
Meanwhile, Coles is making Christmas more sustainable this year with its first-ever range of 100% plastic-free and recyclable festive crackers. Made from FSC paper, the Coles Festive Crackers are stylish and offer a rustic, designer tone to the Christmas table set up. Hidden inside, the festive crackers include a classic joke, paper hat and puzzles to play around the Christmas table.
Coles' decorative range includes 100% recyclable and plastic-free (including glitter) greeting cards, hanging decorations and wind-up children's wooden musical toys to dress up the Christmas tree and provide Aussie parents with more sustainable gifting options.
And to make life in the kitchen even easier, Coles is rewarding customers with new kitchen utensils to collect from 27 October, featuring four new stainless-steel MasterChef Knives, scissors and a handy electric mini chopper, as well as a return of the four most popular knives from last year's collection. Perfect for homemade sauces, the stylish and ergonomically designed mini chopper has two-speed functions to chop, dice and mince with ease in seconds.
The original, best-selling and award-winning Coles Crackling Christmas Ham has been elevated to a whole new level this year, coming as a 6 rib rack for extra flavour. Made from Aussie-sourced Sow Stall Free pork, the ham is ready to be popped straight into the oven for the most delicious crispy crackling topping. For added convenience, Coles has created a pre-cut mix of roasting vegetables to place and roast alongside the main courses.
This year, Coles welcomes its first-ever Turducken, providing an Aussie twist on a popular US holiday dish and a perfect for those who want it all – succulent turkey, duck and chicken all in one. It's created with RSPCA approved Hunter Valley turkey with a native Davidson Plum, five spice and pistachio stuffing, topped with a layer of Coles Assured Duck and wrapped in a partly deboned RSPCA approved deboned chicken.
Highlights of the Coles Christmas 2021 range include:
- A variety of quick and easy gourmet starters including Coles Entertaining Mac & Cheese Bites with BBQ Pulled Beef, Cheeseburger Spring Rolls, Entertaining Prawn Selection presented in fun and festive shapes like star-shaped toasts, lattice baubles and candy canes, and an Entertaining Vegetable Selection featuring an assortment of jackfruit star-shaped toasts, pumpkin & cauliflower baubles and sweet & sour lemongrass candy canes.
- For the cheeseboard, there's a range of local and international specialty cheeses including a British classic 6 Months Aged Red Leicester, an organic Australian Washed Rind Cheese, a full-bodied Spanish Truffle Cheese, and a fruity Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries.
- For the main event, a Hunter Valley fresh turkey breast, tied and formed into an easy-to-carve 'cushion' shape and filled with a rich truffled mushroom risotto stuffing.
- Seafood options include a Hot Smoked Salmon with maple glaze that has been smoked over beechwood and is ready to eat, as well as the showstopping Salmon Roast with herb, butter and lemon stuffing and fresh cooked tiger prawns aplenty.
- Decadent desserts that are ready to serve and eat including two Aussie trifles: Coles Classic Summer Berry Trifle featuring layers of mixed berry coulis, vanilla custard, sponge cake and vanilla mousse, topped with Belgian white chocolate and freeze-dried raspberry pieces; and the indulgent Coles Indulgent Triple Chocolate Trifle with layers of vanilla and chocolate mousse, Belgian chocolate brownies and rich chocolate ganache, topped with Belgian chocolate flakes.
- Set to take the cake for a sweet centrepiece, there are two Coles Finest Mirror Glaze Mousse desserts, available in Belgian Chocolate and Salted Caramel, and Raspberry, Vanilla & Belgian White Chocolate.
- Coles Festive Salted Caramel Pudding, Matured Christmas Pudding and Maggie Mae Jewelled Christmas Cake join the traditional range of Coles Christmas puddings and fruit mince pies.
- To finish, Coles Mini Vienna Ice Cream Sticks offer a nostalgic family favourite with creamy vanilla flavoured frozen desserts and chocolate layers or opt for a festive Gingerbread and Caramel Ripple Ice Cream
- For gifting there's a premium range of Sweet Emporium treats including Soft Nougat Collection, Salted Peanut Brittle and Soft Pistachio Nougat along with Coles' festive assortment of Gingerbread and Chocolate coated biscuits, as well as Belgian Chocolate Festive Characters for the kids.
- Our curated selection of local and international wines and spirits is exclusive to Coles Liquor and carefully selected to complement our Christmas menu, including James Busby Barossa Valley Grenache to pair with hams, Beyond The Wilderness Pinot Noir to match with poultry, the crisp Far & Wide Fiano to enjoy with seafood, and Beyond the Wilderness Sparkling Rosé from Tasmania to pair beautifully with desserts and sweet treats.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HIGHLIGHTS OF COLES CHRISTMAS 2021 RANGE
Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said customers deserve a special Christmas celebration this year more than ever, and so Coles has come to the party with its most delicious and easy range of festive food yet.
"Coles has always been committed to great value for all Australians, and the past few years have given us a renewed appreciation of what we have here in Australia – the people, the food and the communities. We've been working hard with our team of suppliers, product developers, farmers, development chefs, our supply chain and team members to deliver easy meal solutions that provide great value and offer exceptional quality," Mr Cain said.
"After another challenging year for so many Australians, we want to make this entertaining season as easy and affordable as possible so they can spend more time sharing and less time preparing with our new and extended range of great quality, easy-to-cook meal solutions.
"And to show that Coles customers can have our famous Crackling Ham and carve it too, our latest loyalty program offers customers even more value at the checkout by rewarding them with an enhanced range of stainless-steel MasterChef knives to make Christmas cooking even easier!"
Coles Ambassador Courtney Roulston and award-winning Australian chef Luke Mangan showcased the new Christmas range to media today, ahead of the products' arrival in stores nationally.
"It's a Christmas like you've never seen before at Coles – taking the traditional Christmas fare to the next level with chef-inspired canapes, centrepiece mains and desserts which are easy to prepare so you'll be spending less time in the kitchen and more time with family and friends," said Courtney.
"The Crackling Ham Rib Rack Roast is set to be a real crowd pleaser this Christmas. Simply season the rind generously with sea salt and slide into the oven, customers will love this beautifully rich, golden roast with succulent tender ham and crispy crackling. Serving it on the bone not only provides a better flavour, it also makes the ham a perfect table centrepiece and easy for customers to carve and portion – which means no fighting over the crackling."
Coles' Plant-based Christmas Roast with Sweet Tomato Chutney is back by popular demand this season, giving vegetarian and vegan shoppers a delicious roast option with hints of apple and rosemary. The Coles Bakery has also expanded its dessert range to include more sweet treats suitable for vegans including new Coles Meringue Kisses, Coles Finest Mirror Glaze Chocolate & Salted Caramel desserts, matured Christmas pudding and a gluten-free fruit cake.
To help Aussies prepare and spread the cost of Christmas, Coles launched its core range of puddings, fruit mince pies and bakery treats from September, with more chilled, pantry and bakery products arriving in stores nationally this week, followed by 100% Aussie hams and seafood in November, and Hunter Valley turkeys and Turducken in mid-December.
Raise a toast with something local from Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars
This Christmas, when it comes to choosing what to drink, it's all about local wines, craft beers and boutique spirits as Aussies continue to show strong support for local producers.
Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars work with over 400 outstanding local suppliers to source around 2500 local wines, craft beers and boutique spirits from all corners of the country so customers can add a unique Australian flavour to their celebrations.
Local lighter style wines are proving the most popular, with Rosé, Tempranillo, and Grenache leading the way. The 'Bio Project' Tempranillo is a gold medal-winning wine which not only matches beautifully with rich poultry flavours but also supports the restoration of McLaren Vale's biodiversity.
The James Busby Barossa Valley Grenache offers a perfect pairing with succulent ham, with the savoury characters of the wine beautifully balancing the sweetness of the meat.
Craft beer is one area where local particularly matters, and the teams at Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars work with over 120 craft beer supply partners across the country like Wolf of the Willows, Black Hops, & Moon Dog to bring the newest trends to customers.
When it comes to boutique spirits, gin is still on everyone's lips, with sales more than doubling over the past two years. Our pick for those who sharpened up their mixology skills during 2021 is Mayfair's exquisite Pink Gin. Laced with flavours of strawberries and raspberries, Mayfair heralds from gin's heartland in the UK and is distilled by the 2020 Gin Distiller of the Year, as named by the prestigious International Spirits Challenge. Enjoy over ice or shake up something special with the "The Courtney" or "The Luke" – two special gin cocktail recipes created exclusively for Coles by Courtney Roulston and Luke Mangan.
For those after a lighter choice this festive season, you are not alone. Sales in low and no alcohol drinks have doubled across the market each year for the past three years. But while the alcohol is low the flavour doesn't have to be – look no further than the Tinnies Ultra Low Alc Hoppy Ale, full of malt flavours and extra hops, it's a true craft beer with 100% flavour and only 0.5% alcohol, and picked up the Trophy for Best Non-Alcoholic Beer at the Australian International Beer Awards 2021.
Free MasterChef Knives, back by popular demand
From 27 October, customers will earn a MasterChef knife credit by scanning their Flybuys card every time they send $20 or more in one transaction at Coles supermarkets and Coles Online 2.
In a first for the MasterChef knife program, customers will have the option of 'half-pay' to make it even easier to collect the full set, by redeeming half the required credits in store and paying half the retail price.
The MasterChef Knives collection features eight premium quality knives and accessories including kitchen scissors, a paring knife, a cleaver, an electric mini chopper designed to slice and dice with ease, as well as the return of four of the most popular knives collected last year: the small santoku-style knife, cook's knife – the most used knife in the kitchen – a large santoku and a set of two steak knives.
Customers can also purchase a knife block made from acacia wood with a unique filament insert that holds any type of knife or utensil for $35 in-store, while stocks last.
