Why won’t the government pay for HEALTHY items

amother

Aquamarine

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 1:55 pm

amother Eggshell wrote:

I totally get this
But just saying we get large plain Greek yogurts (super healthy) on wic. I use it in smoothies and add my own sugar

Where do you live? In NJ greek yogurt is specifically not allowed.

amother

Eggshell

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 1:56 pm

amother Aquamarine wrote:

Where do you live? In NJ greek yogurt is specifically not allowed.

I live in Lakewood. Check the app, only the large mehadrin plain flavor is allowed for Greek.
You can scan the container in the store and you’ll see it’s allowed.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 2:49 pm

amother Lavender wrote:

Seriously
This sounds like my 8 year old who says I want her to have nothing to wear because I buy her ugly things

Maybe the govt should save it's money for people who really need it.

What a nasty response. As long as I'm spending money, I'd make sure I'm spending it on clothes my kid actually wants to wear. Same thing with food stamps or whatever OP is using from the government. So long as tax money is going towards feeding her family, why can't they eat something they like? She says it costs the same. It's not like she's complaining about having to eat salami when she'd rather have rib eye.

amother

Bottlebrush

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 2:50 pm

About time for people to wake up and realize the government is only out to hurt us and make money off of our sickness. Yes, only allow the foods that are not good for our children at all, because then when they aren’t healthy guess what? They will be taking a trip to the dr where they will be prescribed medication only to return again and again.. the never ending cycle. Because if they let us be healthy they wouldn’t make any money. It’s as simple as that. And don’t start attacking op because you aren’t on wic. She has every right to be concerned about the foods the government is providing for her kids. It’s a mothers job. Believe me the government can allow the unsweetened milk just the same.

tryinghard

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 2:56 pm

Companies hire lobbyists to get their products approved. So likely the healthier company did g pay. Or the wic product is one they had low sales with.
I’ve had these conversations with the WIC nutritionists many times and they generally agree that the guide don’t make much sense nutritionally. Most of them would prefer to make bigger allowances for produce and less for juice, but they have no leeway. It’s silly, but it’s a government program so that goes with the territory.

amother

Jasmine

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:05 pm

amother Aqua wrote:

No. WIC is there to provide nutrition - and yes the government, even if they get it wrong (why isn’t anyone complaining about juice) - can dictate what you can eat on the taxpayers dime.

amother

Charcoal

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:11 pm

My question is why are the prices raised so high on wic foods? Go to the kosher store and the wic eggs are much more expensive than the non wic eggs, for example. And the wic yogurts are more expensive than the non wic yogurts (CY). It’s like we’re being punished for not having wic.

amother

Jasmine

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:13 pm

amother Charcoal wrote:

WIC is more expensive or less?

amother

Honey

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:16 pm

amother Charcoal wrote:

because the stores want to make more profit? and most who shop there have wic...

amother

Smokey

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:24 pm

They don't care about your health. They care about the $$$$. The cereals they cover are sugary and sweet while before WIC we bought organic corn flakes sweetened with fruit juice. The cheeses are the cheapest yuckiest kind, not decent quality cheese. The eggs are only large, what's wrong with extra large eggs? The bread they finally approve Jerusalem WW bread but for years it was only the sweetened WW bread. Juice, most of it is from concentrate in a can. Low fat blue milk instead of red even for younger kids who need to gain more weight. They make me get my toddler's height and weight but then don't feed him accordingly, it's so weird.

amother

Red

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:27 pm

amother Charcoal wrote:

WIC will reimburse the store price, up to a certain cap. The store would rather make the most of the reimbursement...

If you don't have WIC, just get a different size or brand that's not covered by WIC and it will be the regular price.

amother

Jasmine

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 3:28 pm

amother Smokey wrote:

Are the cheeses CY?

amother

Silver

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 4:46 pm

amother Jasmine wrote:

No. WIC is there to provide nutrition - and yes the government, even if they get it wrong (why isn’t anyone complaining about juice) - can dictate what you can eat on the taxpayers dime.

OK I'll complain about juice. It's so stupid. Often we don't bother picking it up.

amother

Silver

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 4:49 pm

amother Babypink wrote:

It has already been determined that OP is wrong as unsweetened yogurt is permitted.

Almond milk is a gray area. For most poor children, using whole cow milk would be the best way for them to maximize protein and calories - which are important factors in the choice of foods. Unsweetened almond milk is lower in calories and for the age which WIC is supplementing would not add up to the calories that the toddler should optimally be getting.

Absent an allergy to cow milk, it is probably healthier to have a child drink cow milk with fat until 2.

Also the many of people who are using WIC are in areas where even getting food is an issue because they are in so-called "food ghettos" - neighborhoods in which there are no large grocery stores and so there are only small relatively expensive small stores. Many of them don't sell much in the way of fresh produce - don't sell in larger cheaper quantities and probably don't stock any almond milk.

Pregnant and nursing women are on WIC. So are children up to age 5. Lots of people can't tolerate cow's milk.

And where in Ocean County are there food ghettoes. Yes there are rural areas, but those areas don't have any stores that accept WIC. It's not like people can go to a store with their WIC checks but the store doesn't carry almond milk. They would need to travel anyway to use their checks.

amother

Vanilla

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 4:53 pm

amother Eggshell wrote:

I totally get this
But just saying we get large plain Greek yogurts (super healthy) on wic. I use it in smoothies and add my own sugar

ETA I do agree that certain foods/ drinks they sometimes only let the unhealthy version. Example- grapejuice, I would love to get light grapejuice

Just want to point out one of my pet peeves. Light grape juice is not healthier. Its grape juice with added water and artificial sweetener.

Sebastian

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 4:53 pm

amother Smokey wrote:

They cover low sugar cereals like corn flakes, cheeries, rice krispies etc. They dont cover organic

They cover any 16 oz cheese, not sure why you are complaing about quality

Eggs are eggs

Juice should be done away with imo and kids should get a choice between whole and fat free milk

amother

Babypink

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 5:03 pm

amother Silver wrote:

WIC is a Federal program and is intended to serve the needs of a large ground of people. Most of them don’t live in Lakewood and many of them live in neighborhoods that don’t have convenient places to buy food. They might lack reliable transportation.

Most of the kids are fine with cow milk and so it represents an easy palatable way to maximize their nutritional needs for a relatively small amount.

I don’t begrudge poor people using my taxes for food but please stop the whining that it isn’t specifically geared to your specific snowflake palates. For most people, it would free up a lot of money in their food budget so they can get the unsweetened almond milk instead of complaining about it on a forum where there are large numbers of families who would be delighted to be able to supplement their food budget even within the constraints of WIC.

amother

Silver

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 5:07 pm

amother Babypink wrote:

WIC is run by the county. The funds are federal but the county decides how to allocate it. Here any store that is part of the WIC program needs to carry the foods allowed by WIC. I have no idea how other areas do it, nor does it matter, since we're only discussing Ocean County's WIC program.

amother

Jasmine

Wed, Jun 28 2023, 5:12 pm

amother Silver wrote:

The county does not get to decide ‘hey let’s put potato chips’ as a WIC item.