Who says you have to be poor to get WIC?

TwinsMommy

Thu, Jan 24 2008, 11:34 pm

Not judging anyone on WIC---- look, I tried to apply.... but I *am* curious......

Why would they give juice? Water is free and doesn't have the empty calories juice has. I have no trouble giving my toddlers a bit of juice because they seem to like it, it's a treat, but for regular thirst quenching I'd like them to get used to water now that I'm weaning them from formula/milk to more types of drinks in addition to milk.

Isn't that like giving ice cream? Sure, ice cream is yummy, and I eat it now and then, but why should every American be ENTITLED to get their ice cream as if it's supposed to be a staple? Can't we all get along fine without juice?

Eggs and milk and of course baby formula (lots of moms can't nurse for various reasons, myself included) make a lot of sense, but juice?

Mama Bear

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 12:08 am

crayon my son used to drink white grape juice diluted with water, but when I started getting all these cans of juice, I had to dos omething with it, so I substituted it instead of the grape juice,a nd now he's waaaaaaah so addicted.

twinsmommy, you get teh following on wic:

milk
eggs
juice
cheese
peanut butter
cereal

ask why...

malkie

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 8:38 am

You can get orange juice or tomato juice instead of apple juice...other people in the family can drink it. I get orange juice and DH is thrilled, b/c a carton of Tropicana costs a fortune!

chaimsmom

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 9:10 am

TwinsMommy wrote:

Why would they give juice? Water is free and doesn't have the empty calories juice has....
Isn't that like giving ice cream? Sure, ice cream is yummy, and I eat it now and then, but why should every American be ENTITLED to get their ice cream as if it's supposed to be a staple? Can't we all get along fine without juice?

WIC is part of the Farm Bill and is more about helping farmers than providing nutrition. The same is true of food stamps. People can use food stamps to buy candy bars and potato chips, but not soap and toilet paper.

More info see http://www.boston.com/news/glo.....irst/

Mama Bear

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 9:43 am

malkie wrote:

You can get orange juice or tomato juice instead of apple juice...other people in the family can drink it. I get orange juice and DH is thrilled, b/c a carton of Tropicana costs a fortune!

well you can only get the canned juices on wic, and the canned orange juice doesnt taste too good.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 9:59 am

All of these things vary from place to place.

I remember when my mother had WIC for my two younger sisters, she used to choose food from a catalog and have it delivered! How times have changed Smile

malkie

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 10:23 am

Mama Bear wrote:

malkie wrote:

You can get orange juice or tomato juice instead of apple juice...other people in the family can drink it. I get orange juice and DH is thrilled, b/c a carton of Tropicana costs a fortune!

well you can only get the canned juices on wic, and the canned orange juice doesnt taste too good.

We get the frozen canned Tropicana on WIC and it's really not bad at all.

Crayon210

Fri, Jan 25 2008, 4:09 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

You could have given it away, no?

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sat, Jan 26 2008, 9:17 pm

yeah, you can get frozen.
Also, in the winter they give $5 for fruits and veggies for kids over 2. Not much, but hey, it's something.

You could really save several $100s. And your son's pinprick? it's for his own good. your pediatrician NEVER does blood tests??

BrachaVHatzlocha

Sat, Jan 26 2008, 10:52 pm

I think so. As long as it's food. But they can't use it for toilet paper. Interesting, no? I think they probably can't use it for foods that charge tax - like sodas?? Maybe I'm wrong.

Mama Bear

Sat, Jan 26 2008, 11:56 pm

Motek wrote:

chaimsmom wrote:

People can use food stamps to buy candy bars and potato chips

legally?

of course. foodstamps can be used for any food items. bakeries, butchers, fish stores etc all take it - so you can buy take out at your local butcher if they havea take out department... you cant use it on the paper goods in the grocery but some grocers just swipe your card for the entire amount and send you on your merry way. some are more careful.

amother

Sun, Jan 27 2008, 1:31 pm

B/c I'm exclusively nursing, WIC gives me tuna, beans and carrots as well as the milk, cheese, eggs, cereal, peanut butter and juice. But since both me and DH are trying to loose weight, we don't drink the juice anymore. WIC makes a HUGE difference to our grocery bills. B"H!

Motek

Tue, Jan 29 2008, 6:34 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

foodstamps can be used for any food items.

WIC is not food stamps so got confused there. With WIC, it's for specific food items.

Crayon210

Tue, Jan 29 2008, 7:44 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

given it away - to? who wants canned juice? Cant think of anyone I couldve given it to.

I don't know, if it's something that I didn't want my kids eating, I wouldn't give it to them, no matter how free it was. Confused

GAMZu

Tue, Jan 29 2008, 8:09 pm

Motek wrote:

Mama Bear wrote:

foodstamps can be used for any food items.

WIC is not food stamps so got confused there. With WIC, it's for specific food items.

You were referring to the post saying you can buy candy and chips with FS.

GetReal

Tue, Jan 29 2008, 9:40 pm

Mama Bear, sometimes I get tomato juice and make tomato soup with it.

I personally like the frozen tropicana better, I can water it down. Pure orange juice is too much for me.