Tesco shoppers have begun buying frozen turkeys already in a bid to avoid disruption to their Christmas dinner, Press Association has reported.

The supermarket said it was confident there would be good product availability for Christmas but there could still be “bumps in the road”.

Tesco praised the “resilience of our supply chain” as it said it has already hired about 15,000 extra temporary staff as part of preparations for Christmas.

60% of turkeys Tesco sell each year are frozen, but that number is likely to be higher this year claims chief executive of Tesco, Ken Murphy.

He said: “We currently have a 10% increase of turkeys and there is noticeably an elevated demand for frozen turkeys.

“We have a resilient supply chain and really good availability levels.”

Murphy also said the supermarket has reduced its range of certain items, highlighting pasta, in hopes to simplify its supply chain.

Tesco has lifted its profit targets for the year after a strong half year of sales.

The retailer said profits were boosted by strong sales but flagged that it expects some of its recent elevated sales will “fall away” over the rest of the year.

Mr Murphy said: “We’ve had a strong six months, sales and profit have grown ahead of expectations, and we’ve outperformed the market.

“I’m really pleased with our progress as we increased customer satisfaction and grew market share leading to a strong financial performance.

“With various different challenges currently affecting the industry, the resilience of our supply chain and the depth of our supplier partnerships has once again been shown to be a key asset.”