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Original poster

Tesco shopping restrictions

38 replies

UtterTwaddle · 26/03/2020 16:28

Tesco say you can only have three of any “product line”. Does anyone know what a product line is? There was some confusion when my husband went last week as he wasn’t allowed parsnip, swede, carrots and potatoes as they are all root vegetables. I’m trying to make some sort of shopping list for this week and my mind is boggling! Are there any seasoned Tesco shoppers who could advise on what you are allowed, please?

OP posts:
Selfsettling3 · 26/03/2020 16:32

On line I’ve only being able to get three single banana but I could buy 3 bunches of banana.

I find the whole thing a nightmare as my kids have allergies and as I bf one of them I have to exclude some foods to. Trying to get enough soya growing up milk and oat milk in one shop is impossible.

LolaSmiles · 26/03/2020 16:32

I've had multiple root vegetables in my shop this week.

Where I got it wrong was trying to buy two butters, margarine and a tub of Stork for baking. I thought they were 3 separate products but they're all classed as fats so there was a limit.
I did wonder who'd want to use stork instead of butter.

Taddda · 26/03/2020 16:34

Wow, that's taking it a bit far...I'd understand 3 tins of this and 3 jars of that, but different root veg??

Difficult to know...sorry I'm not much help, following as I hope you get an answer (I'm interested Confused)..

Corneliawildthing · 26/03/2020 16:35

I seemed a bit daft as my fussy cat likes a certain brand of food that only comes in little trays, so I could only buy 3 of those. However they were selling boxes of 12 pouches, which meant you could have bought 36 of those Confused

zen1 · 26/03/2020 16:36

I assumed that it meant 3 of any one thing but apparently not. I was told in Sainsbury’s I couldn’t have parsnips, carrots, baked potatoes and sweet potatoes as that was 4 veg, but could have 2 x strawberries, satsumas and bananas as that was 3 fruit.

Taddda · 26/03/2020 16:38

@LolaSmiles we had stork as kids instead of butter, I'd eat it by spoonful (when no one was watching....Hmm)...

ifonly4 · 26/03/2020 16:40

I went shopping earlier, shopping for us and my Mum. Took it to self serve as I had cash from my Mum and put hers through first. Assistant came to check on my shopping part way through. He didn't pick up I'd got three bananas for my Mum and another three for us, but he did pick up I had intended to buy four cans over the two shops, so had to put one back.

Keepdistance · 26/03/2020 16:42

Well I hope they don't apply this to bread and milk as if you can only get 3 say that last a few days!!
Is that going to be 3 loaves or rolls or naan bread. Hopefully not

Keepdistance · 26/03/2020 16:44

A ration per adults and kids would make more sense.
1 elderly person with 3 loaves or bananas - a lot.
A family of 4 led than half a week.

browzingss · 26/03/2020 16:44

I haven’t been to the shops much recently. Marks and Sainsbury’s have item limit signs in store but I only bought 1x of everything so didn’t apply to me.

However I have tried placing a Waitrose order online. They essentially do it by category. So for example a bag of pasta, box of spaghetti, box of lasagne sheets and those filled fresh pasta ravioli boxes are all considered the same category so you can only choose 3. Regardless of size too so you’d be better off buying the largest size you can find instead of multiple.

manicinsomniac · 26/03/2020 16:46

This seems ridiculous if they only want people to shop max once a week!

MrsSnitchnose · 26/03/2020 16:47

Could only have one loaf of bread in our Tesco yesterday but allowed if the other was fruit loaf Confused

cakewench · 26/03/2020 16:49

Ok I'm asking because this would be my normal shop, I'm not doing mental gymnastics to flout rules. We just happen to eat a lot of the same thing:

Does frozen veg count as veg? If we're being restricted to 4 x veg as a general guideline?

Is this the same with meat as well? Is a pack of mince beef the same as a pack of deli meat?

I wish we could forgo our 'allowance' of something (say, pasta or potatoes as we don't eat either) and be allowed more veg. I didn't even think veg was selling all that quickly, but then it's been a week since we've been to the shops.

Hopefully they adjust some of this as time goes on, because this is going to be mean we're going to need to shop more frequently than we'd like in this situation.

79andnotout · 26/03/2020 16:50

I did a shop earlier for myself and a friend with cancer and the person serving didn't object to me putting through two loads with three items of some things in each load. I assume he believed me and didn't just think I was scamming (I wasn't).

Cuddling57 · 26/03/2020 16:50

It's all a bit mixed.
As above poster I too could buy either 3 single bananas or three packs of 5 in a bunch (wrapped in plastic)! Bizarre, but it's understandable not 100% right when it's all so new.

ruddydogg · 26/03/2020 16:52

I’m shopping for my elderly neighbour. She eats ready meals and am only allowed to buy 3 at a time, which made her panic as she doesn’t keep more than 1 week’s worth at home.

Today it made me panic as I had to go to 3 different shops just to find a ready meal for her (Morrison’s, Lidl and Sainsbury’s).

SaltedCaramelPopcorn · 26/03/2020 16:52

Bought more than 3 meat products in Tesco today without any problem - mince, chicken, bacon and 2 lots of ham

QuimJongUn · 26/03/2020 16:52

At my Tesco (and Aldi) it's no more than 3 of the same product code, not 'genre' of food.

Keepdistance · 26/03/2020 16:53

Going to be a nightmare dd2 eats so many apples (and other fruit) honestly too many.
From Lidl we usually have 3 large bags of apples.

HarryDaylight · 26/03/2020 16:55

I did a Sainsbury's shop this morning. There were announcements every few minutes that you couldn't buy bleach, paracetemol or toilet rolls. Everything else was fine. But then nobody appeared to be bulk buying.

I managed to buy nearly everything on my weekly shopping list, and the store wasn't busy. And lots of H&S measures in place.

I was impressed at how calm and organised it all was, as I was dreading it.

LegoLady95 · 26/03/2020 16:55

I was allowed 1 loaf of bread in co-op today. My family eat a loaf a day so i will have to go back tomorrow, and the next day....

tulippa · 26/03/2020 16:55

I was allowed a loaf of bread, two packets of bread rolls and a packet of bagels at Tesco this morning. And two tins of spaghetti, two tins of peas and a tin of sweetcorn. Would have thought they'd all have been in the same category. Confused I assumed that a limit of three meant three of the same thing. Lots of other people were being told to put things back though.

Makinganewthinghappen · 26/03/2020 16:56

Is this happening in smaller shops? (Co-op and small Sainsburys?)

I am trying to make a shopping list for tomorrow and I’m having a stress about the rules!

We are a family of 8 and so I trying to fit our weeks food within the limits to avoid going out again.

HarryDaylight · 26/03/2020 16:57

you couldn't multibuy bleach, paracetamol or toilet rolls

Drivemybluecar · 26/03/2020 17:00

I went to Tesco and got most things. There were signs on things like beans to only have three but nothing else. I did scan as I go so maybe that makes a difference. Getting in the store was very odd and made me feel really uncomfortable but no restrictions on anything else