WIC changes for the better!
So I went to the Madison WI, WIC office to pick up my checks for the next few months, and was very pleased to find out that they are finally making major changes to the types of foods that WIC provides for us families.
For the past 25 years or so this is what you have been able to get:
Milk ( dairy only)
Lactose free milk
eggs
cheese
juice ( only certain kinds)
tuna
peanut butter or dry beans
cereals ( only certain ones)
Now they are cutting back on the amounts of milk, cheese, juice and cereal and offering Soymilk as an option instead of dairy, and giving you some whole wheat bread, buns, whole grain tortillas, brown rice, also vouchers for fresh fruit and veggies, and tofu!
I am so excited, I can't wait for August (when the new foods apear on the vouchers) They still don't allow any organic stuff, and are very brand selective in which types of things you can get. I hope they pick a soymilk that is not GMO, I hate that. But still, vast improvements over what we have had before.
All three of my kids qualify for WIC and it helps with the groceries at least a little. And they raised the income guidelines for families as of July 2009, so more people may qualify.
that is so cool! i just posted over in aimless chit-chat about how i am going to hopefully volunteer for WIC (just to boost my resume). i knew that they were heavy into the traditional USDA pyramid, but i didn't know it was that specific. i thought that it was more food stamp-esque. :-\ makes me sad.
What's WIC?
Women's Investment Corps
Wobbly Invertebrate Convention
Western Island Cats
----nah, none of those would give away food. Particularly not the cats.
women, infants, and children.
it is a nutrition counseling and food assistance program for pregnant women up to children of 5 years (i believe).
Oh. Kind of llike ADC when I was a kid.
I have a fever. I'll go to bed now.
that's great news. it sucked when I was on WIC. I just got the juice and beans, but yay for a free brand new breast pump.
This is excellent news! I'm going to check AZ WIC to see if the changes are effective here too.
I was on WIC for my first baby, but I stopped renewing it because I got mostly cheese, eggs, milk and frozen juice. Crazy amounts of milk that we could never get through. I never gave either of my babies cow milk and I rarely drank it myself. Now we're switched to rice milk (and hemp milk when we can afford to splurge. I figured the Dairy Council must be the main subsidizer of WIC. The best item we got was the dried beans/lentils and the peanut butter. But I got so few of that it wasn't worth it to go through the rigmarole.
Kudos, hespy, for volunteering with them. Not at all like food stamps, unfortunately. You get approved a certain amount of certain items, and they're crazy specific about it. No organic, no brown eggs, no natural anything (except PB, they're kinda loose about that so I got Laura Scudders no salt PB.)
Anyway ... i'm happy to hear this.
I had NY WIC and it wasnt' that good!!! >:( >:(
You got $10 (yes, that is all) of your choice of fresh, frozen or canned produce a MONTH!!! I eat twice that a week!
Then you got...HAD to get...5 gallons of milk (soymilk was not a option, only fat free, 1%, or lactose free dairy) a month. I don't drink 5 gallons of milk a year, much less a month.
I got 3 pounds of cheese, 3 doezen eggs, 30oz of tuna, and ONE bag of beans, ONE jar of peanut butter a MONTH!!!
So not vegan! WIC really wasn't that much help to me. Oh, I also got jars of baby food to, 3 cupons for 22 jars of fruits and vegges per coupon, which was cool, but at the same time each coupon mandated that you also HAD to get 10 jars of baby food meat!!! And you couldn't pick and choose what you wanted to get, it was either all or nothing with those coupons. I hated that part. The eggs, and baby food meat went to my cats as I dont' like either one so it saved me money on cat food. ;)b
I did drink the milk, mostly my mother drank it as I gave most of it to her because she likes cow's milk. So for about 3 months I wasn't drinking hardly any milk at all because I couldn't afford soymilk, and I don't like the taste of cow's milk. Luckily my son was/is breast fed so he was okay.
The WI WIC checks have milk and eggs and cheese on them, but you don't have to get everyhing on the check. I skip the milk all together, and my boys eat cheese, I get the eggs as my husb will eat them so its a free meal for him. Its a little frustrating that you can't get organic, I know that when the soymilk finally gets approved, it won't be organic, and I don't know if I want my kids drinking it if is is GMO and etc. So it still may not save us money if I continue to get the organic soy.
OMG that's awesome!!!! i work at a grocery store in cali and haven't seen that option yet! I hope it happens... u don't have to feed a baby milk, cheese, and eggs to make them healthy... all their other options are vegan... i'm not sure if they let u get soy formula though
Yeah, you can get soy formula, just one brand, though and no organics. It helped us a lot with kids 2 and 3.
When my sister was raising her kids, WIC counselors told her to give them hot water mixed with Jell-O in their bottles, so they would like the taste of the drink (just like cool-aid!) , and get "more protein." It was the most revolting thing I had ever heard of giving to a baby!
Then, 20 years later, they were still giving the same advice to my friend's granddaughter when she had her baby.
They certainly need some good volunteers!
In FL we get about 4 1/2 gallons of milk, two lbs cheese, 2 dozen eggs,1 lb of beans or a jar of pb, about 4 46ounce bottles of juice, and 36 ounces of cereal a month. I have heard about th enew changes but, I go later this month to see what they are. This program has helped me so much since my son was born cuz down here it's almost 4 dollars for a gallon of milk and my son drinks regular milk although now he swipes my almond milk all the time. Also when I was a single mom after I had him there was no way I could have afforded to buy him formula.
Thats awesome! I used to be a cashier and it bothered me that people were buying so much dairy on wic. Although I would never have said so. I couldn't find any info about Iowa, but I read online that Minnesota has just passed a law stating people on wic have the right to buy organic (within reason) with their checks.
I checked out the new Iowa wic broucher and it said no soy or other nut milks were allowed unless stated specifically on the check. Which is kind of a toss up. But Its a good step forward.
I also read this NATION WIDE change came as an outcry to help stop childhood obesity. My niece is addicted to cheese because they used that as a treat food when she was a baby. She is now taking laxatives on a daily basis because it causes her stomach tares. But they've never once been willing to stop giving her dairy products. But thats a whole different ballgame :-X >:(