What if Christmas knitwear wasn’t a novelty? Before you say ‘bah, humbug’, hear us out. A world away from Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy at a turkey curry buffet, these stylish festive jumpers will give you that warm, fuzzy feeling – and not just because of the super-soft British wool. They’re all part of our Buying Better, Inspiring Change edit, which means they’re better for people and the planet. John Smedley and Lou Dungate’s cosy knitwear is made in the UK from British fibres, and Naadam makes beautiful cashmere jumpers while supporting the nomadic herders in Mongolia (by cutting out the middlemen, they’re able to pay the herders 50 per cent more). After all, a jumper is for life, not just for Christmas.

We’re proud to have teamed up with Iceland this Christmas to launch their own-brand mince pies in our Foodhall. Like us, Iceland is committed to taking a stand on environmental issues, and it is the first supermarket to commit to going palm-oil free (that includes their award-winning mince pies). Palm oil is now used in 50 per cent of products in supermarkets, and this demand is contributing to deforestation of irreplaceable rainforests in Borneo, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Until certified palm oil guarantees zero deforestation, we want to give our customers the option to buy palm-oil-free products. The majority of our own-brand Selfridges Selection food products are already palm-oil free, and we’re developing recipes as we speak to ensure the rest of them are by March 2019. Our team of chefs have also worked with Belle Epoque to make their entire pâtisserie range palm-oil-free too, available in Dolly's Cafe and the Foodhall.

Without realising it, your Christmas dinner is probably pretty planet friendly already – root veg, cranberries and Brussels sprouts are all in season in December, which means fewer resources are needed to grow them (hurrah!). But, once you’ve pulled your crackers and cleared your plates on Christmas Day, what happens to all the excess food? We’re talking about the 17.2 million sprouts, 263,000 turkeys and 11.3 million roast potatoes we throw away each Christmas. One tasty answer is this party-starting recipe, created by our chefs to reuse some of those leftovers. 

Turkey and stuffing sliders

Ingredients:
200g turkey, cooked
350g leftover stuffing
2 eggs
Mini burger buns

Garnish:
Lettuce
Red onion, sliced
Tomato, sliced
Leftover cranberry sauce

Method:
1. In a food processor with the knife blade attached, pulse the turkey until chopped. In a large bowl, stir the turkey, stuffing and eggs until well mixed.
2. Form the turkey mix into balls (roughly golf-ball size), then flatten into burger patties. Place onto a baking tray and refrigerate until ready to be cooked.
3. Roast the burgers in the oven or pan fry with a little oil. Cook until lightly browned on both sides and hot throughout.
4. Serve the burgers with red onion slices, lettuce, tomato slices and cranberry sauce.

Utilising leftovers is something we’re very familiar with at Selfridges. As part of our Less Waste More Taste initiative, we use up surplus food from our Foodhalls and restaurants to ensure everything is eaten, not wasted. The excess semolina flour used to make our fresh pasta is then baked into delicious orange cakes, and offcuts from our famous Brass Rail salt beef is used to make scotch eggs. At the end of each day, any additional food is collected by Olio and City Harvest, who donate the food to hungry mouths and people in need.

This zero-waste policy extends to our windows as well. The props and sets seen in our Christmas windows (and in all our displays, for that matter) are carefully designed to be re-used across our stores and events in the future. All the acrylic is recycled and turned into new plastic sheets. We also work with New Life charity to reuse and recycle our window displays once we’re finished with them, ensuring that nothing is sent to landfill.