GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN AND INTO THE PARTY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON - THANKS TO THE
PRESIDENT'S CHOICE® BRAND

The 2010 Holiday Insider's Report^® is chock full of ideas to help Canadians entertain

BRAMPTON, ON, Nov. 5 /CNW/ - Who needs more work or stress during the holiday season? This year, it's all about easy entertaining. That's why the President's Choice^® brand and its popular Holiday Insider's Report^® - found in-store or online at pc.ca - make holiday entertaining easier than ever with delicious, innovative and convenient-to-serve products. With more than 100 new items in the 2010 Holiday Insider's Report^®, there are dozens of ways to help make holiday entertaining feel effortless.

"We want to help Canadians get out of the kitchen and into the party so they can enjoy this festive time with friends and family," says Maria Charvat, vice-president of Product Development, Loblaw Companies Limited. "To delight palates and bring excitement to the holidays, our product developers travel the world to bring home new and innovative President's Choice^® products. The pages of this year's Holiday Insider's Report^® offer products, recipes and ideas to help set up the perfect party no matter how much or how little time you have."

One secret to help enjoy the holiday season is to simplify. Here are a few suggestions to choose from the line of President's Choice^® products to help you prepare:

• Holiday décor is made easy thanks to our beautifully coordinated fresh outdoor décor products. You can get two PC^® OUTDOOR HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS, a PC^® OUTDOOR HOLIDAY WREATH and a stunning 16-foot PC^® OUTDOOR HOLIDAY GARLAND for just $70! You'll love the new look of our PC^® OUTDOOR HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS complete with bright red berries, a red velvet bow and pine cones. Just place them on your front step or drop them into your cast iron urns - and voila - you're done! You can be rest assured all these products are made in Canada with 100 per cent Canadian-grown fresh assorted evergreens.
• The MUST TRY! PC^® PUFF PASTRY HORS D'OEUVRE COLLECTION is a freezer 'must have' perfect for cocktail parties and even last minute guests! Impress with these hors d'oeuvres that offer something for everyone. Made with classic French-style puff pastry and filled with fabulous flavours, our sensational collection of 40 pieces includes Chicken Sausage Rolls; Swiss, Gruyere and Smoked Ham Boats; Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Rolls; and Apple, Smoked Gouda and Caramelized Onion Lattice Rolls.
• No need to splurge on restaurant style dinners during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. The MUST TRY! PC^® DINE-IN TONIGHT™ ENTRÉE FOR 2 is ready in minutes and includes premium quality dinners immersed in luscious sauces and savoury spices that will have you disbelieving you just pulled them out from your freezer! Available in Slow Cooked Beef Bourguignon, Creamy Dijon Roasted Pork and more. These dinners are great for small dinner groups too - wine pairings and plating suggestions are on each package so you can wow everyone with your presentation.
• Offer guests the ultimate end to a holiday feast with the NEW MUST TRY! PC^® RED VELVET CHEESECAKE. It is what we like to call "red velvet reinvented." Famously served in New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the 1920s, our cheesecake version of this classic has a chocolate cookie crumb crust topped with creamy cheesecake surrounded by moist red velvety cake, all frosted with luscious cream cheese icing. Simply thaw and serve!
• The perfect end to a meal (and a great complement to cheesecake) is as simple as a really good cup of coffee. No two coffee bean crops are alike and much like wine, the flavour and aroma of coffee is affected by the unique soil and weather conditions of the area it's grown in. So for our 100 per cent single origin coffees, we scoured the world for truly outstanding varieties - each one boasting a distinct profile. With five enticing choices - Hawaiian, Sumatran, Columbian Supremo, Costa Rican and Kenyan - you can find your preferred taste and serve premium coffee to your guests.
• If purchasing a 100 per cent Canadian-grown tree for holiday decorating is important to you, consider the MUST TRY! PC^® FRASER FIR. Loblaw is committed to sourcing with integrity, so Loblaw proudly works with its loyal Canadian tree farmers who carefully select the best from their crops so you can enjoy lush green colour, shape and fullness, lasting freshness and great needle retention - all the premium qualities for which Fraser Firs are known. It's no wonder our trees were our best-selling new holiday item last year!

Your holiday to-do list this year starts with your local Loblaw banner store - THE holiday shopping destination for easy entertaining. To help make your shopping experience more convenient, your local Loblaw banner store will feature in-store displays showcasing products from this year's Holiday Insider's Report^® making it easy to find everything on your list. Select Loblaw banner stores across the country will also host a PC^® Holiday Party with six stations featuring delicious products and easy entertaining ideas and the PC^® Holiday team circulating in-store with trays of samples, so customers can try featured PC^® holiday products while they finish their holiday shopping!

It's easy to give
While shopping for your holiday party please remember the true spirit of giving and add a little something extra to your list to support those in need in your community. Once again this holiday season, Loblaw corporate and participating franchise stores across the country have partnered with local food banks for the Loblaw Extra Helping™ Holiday Food Drive. Starting November 22 in Quebec and November 26 in the rest of the country you will have the opportunity to donate a non-perishable food item or make a cash donation to help feed a hungry family in your community. For food drive efforts throughout 2010, Loblaw has set a goal to raise 1.2 million pounds of food and $1.35 million to help feed Canadians who rely on food banks.

President's Choice products are available at Loblaws^®, Loblaw Great Food™,  Zehrs^®, Zehrs Great Food™, Fortinos^®, Loblaw Superstore™, Real Canadian Superstore^®, Atlantic Superstore^®, SaveEasy^®, Freshmart^®, Maxi^®, Maxi & Cie^®, No Frills^®, Provigo^®, Extra Foods^®, valumart^®, Your Independent Grocer^® and more. Product pricing and availability may vary by banner and region.  For more information, visit www.pc.ca. 

About Loblaw Companies Limited
Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada's largest food distributor and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services. Loblaw is one of the largest private sector employers in Canada. With more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores from coast to coast, Loblaw and its franchisees employ over 138,000 full-time and part-time employees. Through its portfolio of store formats, Loblaw is committed to providing Canadians with a wide, growing and successful range of products and services to meet the everyday household demands of Canadian consumers. Loblaw is known for the quality, innovation and value of its food offering. It offers Canada's strongest control (private) label program, including the unique President's Choice^®, no name^® and Joe Fresh Style^® brands. In addition, the Company makes available to consumers President's Choice Financial^® services and offers the PC^® points loyalty program.

Product samples, regional PC^® Holiday Insider's Reports and high-resolution images are available upon request.

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