Getting the Most Out of WIC

The Women Infants and Children program, also known as WIC, provides calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, protein, and iron rich foods to lower income and high risk families. Families receiving WIC will receive vouchers for milk, juice, peanut butter, dried beans, cheese, eggs, and cereal. The mothers of breastfed infants also receive vouchers that include canned tuna and carrots. WIC provides formula vouchers for non-breast fed infants. Pregnant women up to six months post-partum, breastfeeding women for up to one year, and children birth through age five who meet the eligibility requirements are served by this program. While this program is very helpful, some mother's struggle to use all the food provided, especially if they have multiple children. To use all the food provided and get your child to continue to eat these foods mother's need to vary the way the foods are served to stay out of a rut. Below are meal and snack ideas that use WIC foods. General ideas are provided so that you can find an exact recipe that fits individual tastes and serving size. Free recipes are widely available online. A simple Google search will give you many varieties of the suggested recipes.

The milk and juice are probably the items most likely to be completely used. Baked goods is a great way to use up extra milk. Juices can also be used in baked goods such as muffins. Tomato juice can be used in beef stew or in making tomato soup.

Eggs can be eaten plainly fried or boiled. Making an omelets is a great way to use up leftover bits of meat, veggies, and cheese. Quiche, breakfast casseroles, and challah, a Jewish egg bread, all use up larger quantities of eggs. Boiled eggs can be used to make egg salad or added to chicken salad, tuna salad, or potato salad. Deviled eggs make a kid friendly appetizer or snack. Huevos rancheros, a Mexican breakfast dish, is filling and makes a good breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Meats can be dipped in egg batter when being breaded.

Cheese can be cut up for a snack and is wonderful paired with fresh fruit. In the mood for Mexican? Make quesadillas and enchiladas, or fill burritos and tacos with extra cheese. Kid's will love to help make pizzas. Use tortillas, pitas, or english muffins to make individual sized pizzas. Almost any sandwich can be improved with a slice of cheese. Shredded cheese can be used to top rice, casseroles, vegetables, and soup.

Dried beans are probably the item most likely to not be used up. It is important to plan ahead when using dried beans, and soak them over night. A variety of dried beans are available to choose from on WIC. All varieties of beans make wonderful soups, and you can find a soup to fit whatever your taste may be. Black beans and pinto beans go well in Mexican dishes. They can be used as a filling in burritos, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, and mexican casseroles. They can be used to make refried beans. Red beans go well in chili or in red beans and rice, a spicy, Cajun dish. Lentils can are very small and blend well in dishes using ground beef such as spaghetti sauce, taco filling, and sloppy joes. Baked beans and beans cooked with just butter and salt and pepper make a nice side dish.

Peanut butter is usually a favorite among kids, but one can only eat so many PB&J sandwiches. Using a variety of jellies and jams will give you more variety there. Peanut butter can be used to make healthier muffins and cookies. There are some great no-bake peanut butter cookies out there. Peanut butter can be used to make an Asian peanut sauce that goes great with rice or noodles. There are a variety of dips make with peanut butter that can be used with cut up fruit or crackers.

Cereals can be eaten dry or with milk. Hot cereals such as grits or oatmeal can be changed by adding toppings such as fruit, cheese, or meat. Many crushed cereals, such as corn flakes, can be used to give casseroles a crunchy topping or make a crunchy breading on chicken. Children can help make a snack mix using a couple varieties of cereals and dried fruit. Snack bars can be made out of cereals to have on hand for a quick breakfast or snack. Oatmeal and crushed cereal can be used instead of bread crumbs in many recipes such as meatballs, breading, and meat loaf.

Tuna and carrots are only included in packages for the breastfeeding mother. Carrots with a dip make a quick snack. Shred carrots to top salads or to add into spaghetti sauce or casseroles. Shred carrots, can also go into muffins and breads. Carrots can be added to soups and stews. Tuna salad can be used to make a sandwich, top a garden salad, or stuff a tomato. Tuna goes well with pasta or rice and a cheese sauce.

Thinking ahead will help you use all the food received from the WIC program. Post a list of these ideas on your fridge so that you can easily get ideas when in a rut. Collect recipes using WIC foods that you can browse through when planning your meals. Doing this will allow you to fully benefit from the WIC program and intake those key nutrients your family needs.