WIC Question

[kschick96]

I don't know much about WIC, so this may be a dumb question, but can you use coupons on WIC products?

I had a woman with a WIC order in front of me today who got several cats for babyfood and turned to me (and my baby) and said-you take the coupons, I'm on WIC and can't use them. I know we have several HCW members on food stamps who use coupons to make that money stretch and I just assumed you could do the same with WIC.

This thread is not meant to be any kind of debate-just an honest question, from a clueless person!

[isis]

When I had WIC, they encouraged you to use coupons. But with WIC, you have to get the items on your list, its not like a FS card, where your purchases are deducted from a prepaid card. IDK if its changed since I had it, but I would get a bunch of checks for 3 months. 3 of them would be for formula only, 1 ck per month. Then the other checks would be for stuff like cheese, milk, eggs, cereal, juice. I would usually get store brand, but if Kraft cheese was on sale and I had a coupon, I would get that instead.

[tinkinpink84]

They encourage use of coupons on wic, i tried to use it on the cereal once. And they were like we cant take coupons. In the booklets and even asking at the office you can use coupons. Means the state or whoever pays for the wic pays out less money. Some cashiers are just not up to par on what can and cant be used. But if you have a coupon for a product you are getting on wic you CAN use them. I just dont think alot of cashiers/people know this. I didnt try and fight it though, I was just trying to help but they didnt wanna take the coupon so i was just like whatever.

[CW&M Mom]

Most of the coupons you could use would mostly just help the state budget for WIC.

The only thing I can think of that would benefit...me..when using WIC is one that took money off of fruit and veggies...since that is a block $6 voucher.

Now states set there up each a little different and have different products that they can purchase. For me...I have to use the cheapest cheese no matter what...BUT I can purchase skippy PB.

I've used coupons mostly on the juice (I get welches) just to save Kansas a buck.

[floppydee]

Yes you can use coupons with WIC. It doesn't help you out per say, but the state budget rather.

Sometimes they give you a fruits and vegetables check worth either $6 or $10. You can get fresh, frozen or canned. To make this stretch I used coupons because I would usually get the frozen fruits and veggies. I got quite a bit one time and the cashier was shocked, lol. I would assume someone could make it stretch with a great sale on the canned as well!

[aimeebee]

If a WIC item was generating a cat...like an OYNO cat, that would definitely benefit the WIC user. You could use it on non-WIC items, kind of like paying with FS and earning Cats, ECB or RR for HBA. It has been years since we've been on WIC, so I don't know how much it has changed.