They may be knobbly and ugly but these food boxes cost just £3.50 with enough to feed a family for a week at Asda in Wisbech

ASDA brings its Jamie Oliver inspired Wonky Veg range to Wisbech with new wonky box trial. Chilled section leader, Hannah Murray. Picture: Steve Williams. (Image: Archant)

They may be knobbly and wonky shaped – but they are perfectly edible fruit and vegetables as championed in the latest episode of Channel 4’s Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.

Asda has announced an extension to its Wonky Fruit and Vegetable brand, launching the new family sized box for £3.50 that includes nine in-season mis-shaped winter vegetables.

Ian Harrison, Asda’s technical produce director, said food waste remained a high priority for supermarkets and they had worked hard to reduce it by relaxing specifications to allow more crops onto shelves, ensuring out-of-spec produce goes into processed products like ready meals or including it in its Wonky Fruit and Veg range.

He said: “Our shoppers absolutely love wonky fruit and veg and we’ve seen sales steadily increase over the last year.

“We’re excited to launch a box that is jam-packed with ugly winter veg that not only saves shoppers money but helps farmers get more of their crop onto our shelves.

“However, this range only solves one part of the food waste puzzle. The work we continue to do with our growers to ensure as much of their crop is sold as possible, by flexing specifications, is the golden ticket for farmers.”

Wisbech is among 28 Asda stores trialling the latest boxes.

Each box has enough produce to feed a family of four for an entire week.

It includes in-season vegetables and the ‘wonkiness’ element changes by product.

Figures reveal that around 15 per cent of potatoes do not meet specifications because they are too big, too small or blemished and 15 per cent of parsnips do not make the shelf because they are odd shaped or have superficial defects.