Tesco: What to expect from collections

How much food would I collect from my local Tesco?

The amount of food varies on each collection from store to store, and day to day. If it was the same amount each day, Tesco would stock less in store... Luckily, the store will estimate the amount and type of food before each collection. However, please note this is an estimation and might change depending on whether the store sells any of the food last minute. Please remember that you do not have to accept all food that is offered to you in your Tesco collection. If there is too much food, or the food is of a low quality then you are free to refuse any items.  

Tesco estimates the amount of food in ‘number of trays’. A tray generally refers to one of Tesco’s green plastic boxes used for home delivery and you might have seen them in-store in the produce section.

What type of food could I collect?

You can expect all types of food, and sometimes non-food items as well, like flowers or cleaning products! If you need a refresher on handling different food types please consult the Inductions and Documents sections on the Volunteer Hub or speak to your Squad Captain.

If your collection is in the afternoon or evening you should generally expect a mix of ambient and chilled items, depending on that day's surplus. 

If your collection is in the morning then you should expect ambient products only (i.e bakery items and whole fruit and veg)

Please note that for morning collections you will receive food with a ‘Best before’ date of the previous day. These are absolutely safe for you to share with your neighbours via OLIO, as long as they look/smell safe to eat. Do not share anything on OLIO you wouldn’t eat yourself.

If you receive any food past it's use by date or notice that you the store is only donating bakery items please report this to OLIO following our guidance here.