Taxpayer funded food programs.

I know and to think they will be free loaders all thier life for thats all they know is WIC and welfare Shame they ever started it commodities were good enough for the young and the old now they dont have them any more

Yup, glad you went to the website! Agreed, it's a lack of appreciation, not a lack of nutrition.

It has changed a lot since my youngest was on it. My daughter was telling me she sees women complain about the choices of baby food, while she has to pay cash to buy baby food for my grandson. This goes with the mentality today of people not appreciating what is given to them. I was happy to get what I got for my son at the time but now they complain about free stuff.

The list of WIC approved foods is pretty extensive. There's no reason Food Stamps should be used for anything else. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2terminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Basic+Needs&L3=Food+%26+Nutrition&L4=Women%2c+Infants+and+Children+(WIC)+Nutrition+Program&sid=Eeohhs2&b=terminalcontent&f=dph_wic_c_list_food&csid=Eeohhs2

hi parated my name was mentioned but I want to make this clear, I dont use food stamps as I am living in a retirement center paid for by my small social security and my SSi checks per month. now I got social s ecurity as I paid into it for 80 years so do not bad mouth me with your mean crap here. I am on ?SSi because I am physically handicapped. bu t If I were in a positon where I did use food stamps I wou ld not be ashamed to buy ice creamn that was sugar free. Sid meant well b ut he did notrealize I am in a retirement center and horror of horrors we do have ice cream several times s week now spout about that and I will report you for flaming as you have flamed Sid and others.yes there is some wrongs in the food stamp thing but there are also people on it that need it and appreciate it too.I do not think you have any right telling people on food stamps what they can eat or buy judge not lest you be judged., you s eem to judge all the same way which is terrible.

@Hatley, I think what Sids was doing was using your name because we KNOW you are quite a senior and you did work hard all of your life. She was not saying you get food stamps. If I am not mistaken, in your situation you would not be given food stamps or other help. It was convenient however to say that you would be one who deserved help if living on your own.

Actually, you get a lot more than that.. and yes.

Now you are in the field I am thinking of. People need education about how to use their food stamps to get the most nutrition for their dollars. There will always be people who will abuse any system. One reason they "frank" wic products now is because people used to buy products and then return them for cash to buy booze. Speaking of education, some elderly are basically required to consume ice cream and other high calorie foods to try to keep their weight up and to promote skin health and integrity. I do believe there should be limits on what food stamps can buy, but many people who are on food stamps do have money, just not enough for everything. Our family could probably be getting some food stamps for over a year now, but we do not as we do not want the government having any more control of our life than it does already. I applaud what Ted says about maintaining "end of the month" rations. I would add dried beans to that list. My daughter, and I will not say what state, was pretty well pushed to use wic with her first child, because the agency said "if it does not get used we lose it next year." She did not do it with her second child, because she did not feel that they need that help. Her husband makes decent money. I know lots of abuses to the "system" both in abuse and in people denied benefits.

I think for a first time mom or someone who has poor nutritional education does benefit from the classes. When my son was on it I only attended the enrollment class and took him for his health assessments. I don't recall why I never had to attend any classes as its been years ago and things may have change since then. Gerty, I'm with you about food stamps. We could get them too, but I prefer to do without. It was bad enough using them when my kids were little, but I had little choice at the time. When they got older, I dropped them immediately. I heard things have changed, at that time you were treated less than human for even needing help by the ones who actually gave the help. Although it's getting harder and harder to budget with the price of food, I do it. Beans are an excellent source of protein. I know I got those with my son's WIC, along with the other stuff. We didn't get the baby food back then except the cereal. I don't think a lot of people realize that food stamps had to be purchased at one time. They weren't always free. One would pay maybe 50 to get $75 worth of stamps or something like that. People complained about it even back then and thought what they bought should be controlled.

As you say, the list has been added to, and there is no reason to think it should never be added to again. Some suggestions for additions are legitimate. But what I've read from many comments in this thread, the complaint seems to be that there aren't luxuries, like Ice Cream. lol

Ted, I used icecream as an example for an elderly and/or disabled person whose only source of food is food stamps...a person who has always worked and is now not able to and is on a very fixed income whose cash doesn't afford desserts and things. All I meant was that I think it would be wrong to completly deprive people like that from something like that if they were to budget their stamps in order to fit it in. Most of them don't get enough food stamps that they would be going overboard with it anyway. The people who need the limits I've listed above and you've conveniently ignored that.

And how do you know the mom buying the bag of candy isn't buying it for a diabetic child?

Scroll up, follow the link to the extensive list of things covered under WIC. And it doesn't just supply food for the baby, WIC means WOMEN, Infants and Children. I didn't say that only the people covered by WIC should get Food Stamps.

Hi Irish, I think you are misunderstanding him. This is more about the Food Stamp Program than the WIC. He wants to change the foodstamp program to only allow the same foods as WIC allows which I agree is actually a real lot more extensive than it was back when my kids were on it. The thing with WIC though it is meant to supplement and is definitely temporary. While a person on WIC could survive on those foods if need be, I don't see a person that relies 100% on foodstamps to live on those foods only. That would mean no spagetti, no butter, no meats or fish. The store clerks have enough trouble with the WIC vouchers and seeing that every item matches the criteria. I can only imagine the lines if food stamps got as strict. I do agree with him though that something should be done about that program.

Yeah, I read about people getting bent out of shape if a person dares to use food stamps then pull out cash to pay for non-food items. I can just imagine if they ran the food stamps like WIC! Not a pretty thought. LOL

I reread your original post. I guess that "basic" and "all" are two different things in my mind. Not sure I can explain that, though!