Paxo Cranberry & Chestnut Stuffing Mix - 170g

In Britain, Paxo is simply what stuffing is called. Gravy, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, and somewhere in the middle of the Christmas dinner plate, a spoonful of Paxo that somebody's mum insisted on making the proper way.

Christmas in Canada has the turkey sorted. What it does not always have is the exact box you remember, with the flavour that makes it taste like the dinner you grew up on rather than a very nice dinner somewhere else. That is usually the thing people come looking for.

It is a dry mix, a 170g pack, so it sits quietly in the cupboard until you need it and asks for nothing in return. Buy it early and forget about it. Any leftovers have a job waiting on Boxing Day, wedged into a cold turkey sandwich at an hour nobody needs to discuss.

People tend to buy it alongside the rest of the British Christmas food they cannot do without: gravy granules, a Christmas pudding, a tin of chocolates for after. It also makes a good stocking filler for the person who always ends up doing the cooking.