Why 'ugly' fruit and vegetables are beautiful on the inside

But the 'ugly' pieces of fruit and veg which often get overlooked in the supermarket aisle for their good-looking cousins could be the key to solving Australia's food waste problem - while helping our waistlines and hip pockets at the same time.

This National Nutrition Week, Aussies are being urged to pop those 'ugly' or 'imperfect' vegies in their basket - as well as using up your ageing vegetables which have been in retirement in the crisper - in a bid to increase Australian's vegetable consumption and reduce food waste.

Less than four per cent of Australians eat our recommend five serves of vegetables a day and alarmiungly, only one per cent of children. And according to the country's peak nutritional body, Nutrition Australia, more than a third of rubbish bins in our kitchens contain leftovers and wasted food - that's nearly $4000 worth of groceries per household per year that can end up in landfill.

The theme of this year's National Nutrition Week's 'Tryfor5' campaign is 'Embrace Your Veg Waste'. Nutrition Australia's chief executive, Lucinda Hancock, said the campaign reinforces the healthy eating message.

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"Australians aren't eating enough vegetables and are throwing away large amounts of edible food waste and so we're calling on everyone to rise to the challenge and embrace their veg waste," Ms Hancock said.

Nutrition Australia senior dietitian, Amber Kelaart, said there are a few ways consumers can try for five serves of vegetables a day, while helping to save money and the environment, by embracing vegetable 'waste':

"Eating your ageing vegetables and eating the parts you usually throw out (like skins, stalks and leaves), makes every dollar stretch further, and reduces your household's impact on climate change. It's win-win," Ms Kelaart said.

Australia's industry body for vegetable and potato growers, Ausveg, has also thrown its support behind National Nutrition Week which runs through to October 19.

Ausveg chief executive James Whiteside said most Australians fall alarmingly short of eating five or more serves of veggies each day, with adults on average only eating around half of the recommended five or more serves of vegetables daily.

"This has a severe impact on our physical and mental health, as well as the sustainability of the vegetable industry," Mr Whiteside said.

"Further to this, it is estimated that around 40 per cent of items that end in the bin are food, with the average Australian household disposing over a thousand dollars' worth each year, which costs the Australian economy around $20bn each year.

"Ausveg is calling on Australian consumers this National Nutrition Week to find creative ways to incorporate five or more serves of veggies into their daily diets and reduce vegetable waste - if more vegetables are eaten rather than sent to landfill it will dramatically improve public health in an environmentally-sustainable way."

Woolworths introduced its The Odd Bunch range of imperfect fruit and vegetables across stores in 2015. The range offers 27 different lines that are available based on seasonality. Avocados and tomatoes, apples and lemons are the most popular picks with shoppers in 2019 so far, according to Woolworths Head of Produce Paul Turner.

"Since we launched the range our customers have purchased more than 130 million kilograms of Odd Bunch fruit and veg, and demand continues to grow," said Mr Turner.

Coles shoppers can now also buy 'ugly' fruit and vegetables at reduced prices as part of it's "I'm Perfect" program, where customers can pick up bags of select fresh produce for cheaper than the standard price.