The best ready-made shop canapés for New Year's Eve So the key is to look for colour and texture when you pick out your cling-film wrapped trays. Be wary of packaging shots that feature fiddly ruffles of cucumber "serving suggestions" to cover up the essential brownness of the food - Marks & Spencer, I'm looking at you - it'll take hours to make them look that good. Still, M&S are the Range Rovers of ready-meal makers, so no surprise that their canapés are very good. They get extra kudos for supplying most of their canapés with disposable baking trays - very helpful if you're doing a big party. On which note, keep an eye on the cooking directions. Pretty much all of the shop-bought canapés need oven time, and different temperatures are a pain when you are juggling packets on the night. Top marks to Waitrose's Heston range - streets ahead of their standard canapés, - which has the cooking time in large print on the front of the packet. It might seem like a little thing, but on the night it beats peering at tiny print in a steamy kitchen. So here, without further ado, is my hot list of tasty ready-made canapés that would grace the smartest of soirées. Over to you. Marks and Spencer Mini battered scallops (£7 /12) Not the best flavoured scallops (I'd bill these as fish and mushy peas as you pass them round, to avoid raising expectations) - but the pea puree is delicious, with whole peas in, and the shells are adorable. Marks and Spencer Mini Posh Hot Dogs (£7 /10) They look like ordinary hot dogs but have a gorgeous smokey flavour - the sauce is easy to trickle over the top provided you snip just the tiniest corner off each bag. On-trend, fun, crowd pleasing stuff. Heston from Waitrose mini chicken, leek and ham hock pies (£6.99 /12) What could the big H on each of these dear little pies be short for? Ham? Hock? Happy New Year? Never mind - these taste fresh and full of good ingredients. Filling too, so good for sustaining guests right up to midnight. Heston from Waitrose mini chilli con carne muffins (£6.99 for 12) Lovely little muffins, baked from raw rather than reheated, with a big dollop of spicy chilli in each one. Irritatingly, the crème fraîche stipulated for the topping is not included; but they are good without too. Sainsburys Taste the Difference Salmon Cakes with Beetroot and Dill Dip (£4 /12) Nicely spiced little fish cakes with chunks of potato in them, and a colourful "dip" which is best squeezed on to each fishcake. Sainsburys Taste the Difference Pulled Pork Yorkshires (£5 /12) My favourite canapé of all the ones I tasted. I'll forgive the fact that the very good rustic shredded ham is not, strictly speaking, pulled pork as it tasted yummy on the crisp Yorkshire, with a punchy mustard sauce. They look enchanting too. Morrisons M Signature Ying and Yang Prawns (£3.50/10) A nice, crisp, not-greasy coating, and a great seafood flavour that leaves others" prawn nibbles standing. Tesco Pork Belly Pieces with Apple Sauce and Pork Poppers (£4 /12) Outstandingly good. Lovely rich, juicy bits of pork, these are nicer than the M&S version at a bargain price. But the genius is in the little crumbs of pork crackling that expand like popcorn in the oven. Keep an eye on them, though - they burn in a flash. Asda Extra Special Sausage Rolls (£3 /12) Nicely spiced, this feels like decent quality meat and the pastry is super light and crisp. Lidl Partytime Indian snack selection (£1.99/12) Nice bhajis and samosas with subtle spicing and a chilli hit. Aldi Duck straws with hoisin dip, (£2.79/10) Very elegant. Overpowering hoisin sauce - cinnamon flavour - but nice and crisp. Aldi Chicken Curry Parcels (£2.79/10) More a match for beer than wine, and a bit sweet, but packed with Asian flavours and nicely crisp. Morrisons Vegetable Selection (£5/100 pieces) Spring rolls, samosas and wontons with a crowd-pleasing Chinese takeaway flavour - serve them with a bowl of sweet chilli sauce.