Shopping List
- Milk: 3 gallons
- Juice: 128 oz (64 oz. tomato juice, 64 oz. fruit juice of your choice)
- Strawberry Yogurt: 32 oz
- Cheese: 1 lb.
- Cereal: 36 oz
- Eggs: 1 dozen
- Fruit & Veg: $8 (7 bananas @ $.20 each= $1.40; 1 bag of small apples @ $1.49; 1 lb. carrots @ $.68; 1 lb. onions @ $.50; 1 can tomatoes $.69; 4 bag frozen mixed veggies @ $.99 = $3.96)
- Whole grains: 2 lb - 1 lb. bread (10 sandwiches) and 1 lb. brown rice (11 servings)
- Peanut butter: 16-18 oz. (9 servings)
Extras from the dollar store
- 1 lb. lentils (7 one-cup servings) - buy the dry beans instead of using the voucher, because dry beans cost less out of pocket than peanut butter
- Jelly
- 1 box pasta
- 1 jar pasta sauce (like Hunt’s pasta sauce, already seasoned)
- 1 container Italian herbs
Menu
Sunday
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: PB&J, carrot slices, milk
Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese
Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: Fried egg on toast, apple slices with peanut butter, milk
Dinner: Mujadara (lentils with fried onions over rice), mixed veggies
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: PB&J, carrot slices, milk
Dinner: Pasta and lentil soup with cheese
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: Leftover mujadara, mixed veggies, milk
Dinner: Leftover Pasta and lentil soup with cheese
Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: PB&J, carrot slices, milk
Dinner: Leftover mujadara, mixed veggies, milk
Friday
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: Egg over toast, apple with peanut butter, milk
Dinner: Leftover soup - add any extra veggies to bulk it up, add cheese on top
Saturday
Breakfast: Cereal, milk, ½ banana, 4 oz. fruit juice
Lunch: PB&J, carrot slices, milk
Dinner: Fried rice with mixed veggies
Snacks
Carrots
Hard boiled eggs
Cereal and milk
Strawberry yogurt
Additional Tips for Shopping with WIC
Additional Tips for Shopping with WIC
WIC is a supplemental program and not intended to provide for every meal. Its mission is "to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care."
While it is intended to be supplemental, there are times when it's all a parent has for a bit, and they have to make it last. This menu is based on the WIC food package for California for one young child. I understand that types and amounts of food allowed by this program vary state to state, and by age, so what you receive for your child might not match this list. You also may have an EBT card instead of a paper voucher, depending on your state.
- If you have a fruit and vegetable voucher, ask if there is a farmer's market or store in your area that will match the voucher dollar for dollar. California has such a program, called Market Match.
- Choose the more expensive option if you have more than one choice on a voucher. For example, buy beans with cash, and use the voucher for peanut butter. Peanut butter costs more out of pocket. Similarly, bread often costs more than brown rice. It is more cost effective to pay for the rice and use the voucher for the bread.
- Watch your box sizes on cereal! Years ago, one could buy three 12-oz boxes of Cheerios with the 36-oz voucher. Cheerios boxes have changed to 10.6-oz and 12.25-oz, so you can't get the full 36 oz. It is worth doing a little math and figuring out how close you can get to 36 oz without going over.
- If you're redeeming many vouchers at once and can't use all the fresh milk before it expires, buy powdered milk or evaporated milk. They're great for cooking!
- You can use coupons with your vouchers, and participate in sales such as Buy One, Get One Free deals. If your store is offering a BOGO on cereal, you can get two boxes for the price of one - and the one is covered by your voucher.
- Shop when it's not busy, have your order organized, and let the cashier know you're using WIC before you start. If there are multiple lanes open and you have several vouchers to redeem, you might suggest to people behind you that they could save time in a different line.
Do you have tips for people using WIC? Share them in the comments!
Additional tips for shopping with WIC
