Hello New WIC Programs, Goodbye Anyway

Like most government food programs for the poor, the supplemental nutrition program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) is more about the support of big agribusiness than helping the poor climb out of poverty. According to the Wall Street Journal:
"Nearly half of all infants in the U.S. are enrolled, and 54% of infant formula in the U.S. is distributed through WIC.
Since the late 1980s, states have negotiated contracts with formula manufacturers, who returned rebates to the states totaling $1.64 billion in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29% of WIC recipients are breast-feeding at six months, compared with 46% of women who are eligible for WIC but don't receive the aid and 47% of ineligible women."

Eew. So WIC makes it more likely that a woman will use formula. Each state gets to choose which company to jump in bed with and gets rebates for generating formula consuming customers.

As the new WIC food packages roll out, none of that is likely to change. An enrolled family will still get milk full of hormones and antibiotics (coming soon: milk from cloned cows); breakfast cereal full of sugar and GMOs; genetically modified infant cereal of dubious, artificially added nutritional value; cheese from the above tainted milk; lots of fruit juice, some from the most chemically tainted produce available; low quality, allergen filled peanut butter; dried beans; factory farmed eggs, and canned fish. Added to the new package are bread and vouchers for fruit and vegetables with each state getting to put the kibosh on organic if their budget is eaten up by handing out formula.

To sweeten the deal for breastfeeding moms (since WIC says they promote breastfeeding), they will get a whopping $2 more a month to buy vegetables under the new standards and no one else gets the cans of sardines. The "downside" is that her baby is only eligible for for one can of formula the first month, after that the mom can apparently choose to breastfeed as little as once a day according to what the new interim rule and get both formula and the breastfeeding mom food package. That way the formula companies still get their money for helping keep the poor fat , stupid and sick.

To give WIC some credit, even their food is better than starvation and some families really don't have access to wholesome foods so any food is a blessing.

Personally, I have found that my family eats much better and cheaper without WIC. To begin with, I'm not making special trips to grocery stores that take their vouchers and shopping for the rest of my groceries there because its more convenient than going elsewhere for real food. Secondly, I'm not planning my family's meals to use up all that breakfast cereal and milk. Even with recent increases in food prices, dropping WIC has helped me make changes that really are less expensive and better for me and the kidlets.

For example, Sugar Pirate likes cottage cheese and peas for breakfast. Lots more protein than plain milk and Kix without added sugar.

I can also get our probably unnecessary dairy calories from kid friendly organic string cheese and pro-biotic yogurt tubes (or ice cream sticks, according to the kids). Juice is a treat, not something to slog down instead of water so that I can make room in the freezer for frozen berries and veggies. When we do have cereal, we get Gorilla Munch or Panda Puffs which are so much cheaper than the genetically modified WIC cereals and we can put organic cow, soy or nut milk over the top depending on what was inexpensive and fit in with the rest of our menu.

Lest you think I am out there with my food choices, and really do spend a ton: my monthly food budget is about $100/person. When I was on WIC, it was closer to $150 and led me to give in to the old soda temptation as well as other bad eating habits (darn those Little Debbies anyway). We still have some bad habits like Zombie and I eating microwave popcorn in front of Lost and using too much half and half in our hot beverages; but after getting out from under all the WIC junk, I know I feel better and the kids aren't as grumpy.

So goodbye WIC. Goodbye false economy of eating pseudo food. Goodbye missing work to go to uninformative "classes" or have my babies' fingers stabbed. Goodbye getting sent home with formula because I don't work enough to get a breast pump on loan.
We are so much better off without it.