Make Recipes Using WIC Allowed Foods
Eat A Spoonful Of Luck This St. Patrick’s Day
Are you having a hard time getting your kids to eat the healthy green vegetables on their plate?
This St. Patrick’s Day tell them eating their green vegetables means “good luck.” Only parents have to know that “good luck” comes in the form of “good health.”
Texas WIC is a program that is designed to help parents and children get a healthy start by providing nutrition counseling, support and healthy foods. WIC allowed foods are added to a monthly WIC EBT card to help women and children up to age 5 eat healthier.
WIC allowed foods can include any of the following depending on your qualifying food category determined by if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, an infant or child up to age 5. WIC allowed Foods can include everything from milk, whole wheat bread, whole-grain cereal, peanut butter, beans fruits, vegetables and baby food and infant formula and more!
This St. Patrick’s Day cook your family a menu filled with luck (or healthy WIC approved foods.) We have rounded up a few healthy recipes for you to cook up featuring a bite or two of green for your family.
RECIPES USING WIC ALLOWED FOODS
Baked Zucchini
2 Zucchini, sliced 1/4″ thick rounds
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
3 tbsp grated cheese of choice
Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut zucchini into slices. Combine all ingredients (except zucchini and cheese) in a medium bowl. Mix spices and oil together. Add zucchini and toss. Place zucchini on a single layer on a cooking sheet. Cook in oven for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for about 5 more minutes.
You can’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day without cabbage. This recipe from the USDA’s MyPlate is the perfect cabbage recipe:
Cabbage Comfort
1 onion (sliced)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 1/2 cups cabbage (sliced)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Heat oil in a large saute pan. Saute onion over medium heat, until light brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add sliced cabbage, salt, black pepper, and caraway seeds. Stir and cook for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
For more St. Patrick’s Day recipes using WIC foods from the USDA. Check out this menu.
Get all your WIC foods at Lone Star Family Market in Austin, Round Rock and San Marcos. The grocery store caters to WIC clients and makes WIC grocery shopping easy. Check your WIC EBT before you shop. Plus, bilingual clerks will help you through your entire visit. Find a location near you.
WIC INSPIRED RECIPE FROM LONE STAR FAMILY MARKET
Get all your WIC groceries in one easy stop at any Lone Star Family Market location in Austin, Round Rock, & San Marcos. Bilingual clerks personally help you get all your WIC foods without all the hassle.
Did you make this WIC Inspired Recipe – Yogurt Bark? Let’s be friends. Tag us on Instagram using @lone_star_family_market or Facebook using @lonestarfamilymarket
Government Food Program Serves Up Produce
Expanded WIC Fruit, Vegetable Benefits Extended Thru September
Congress has approved another extension of WIC’s expanded fruit and vegetable benefits thru September 2022.
WIC is a government food program that provides nutrition counseling, breastfeeding support and monthly food packages of healthy foods for pregnant women, babies and children up to age 5.
“With the rising cost of food and the ongoing burden of healthcare costs, we must double down on effective measures like the WIC benefit bump that help children build nutritious diets and get a healthy start,” according to a statement from the National WIC Association.
WIC’s extended fruit and vegetable benefits now provide:
- Children $24/month
- Pregnant and postpartum participants receive $43/month
- Breastfeeding participants receive $47/month
Texas WIC offers the following example about how a family may see additional benefits on their WIC EBT cards:
If you are pregnant and have two children (ages 1-5) receiving WIC, you will get $91 ($43 mom + $24 child + $24 child = $91) each month to buy fruit and vegetables thru September.
WIC clients will see this new amount on your shopping list under your benefit amount.
WIC shoppers can use the expanded fruit and vegetable benefit to buy produce fresh, frozen, cans, glass jars, and plastic containers. For more information about WIC food benefits, visit TexasWIC.org.
GOVERNMENT FOOD PROGRAM PROVIDES SUPPORT
Since April 2021, more than 4.75 million women and children participating in WIC have received enhanced fruit and vegetable benefits in accordance with science-based recommendations. The WIC benefit bump has resulted in more than triple the amount of fruit and vegetable purchases, a greater variety of produce redeemed by WIC families, and increased fruit and vegetable consumption for young children, according to a statement released by the National WIC Association.
WIC GROCERY SHOPPING
Visit Lone Star Family Market in Austin, Round Rock and San Marcos to redeem your WIC benefits in one easy stop. Lone Star Family Market is a PWIC grocery store chain that specializes in catering to WIC clients. Shoppers can check their EBT balance BEFORE shopping and bilingual clerks assist shoppers throughout the shopping experience. Plus, everything in the store is WIC approved. SNAP is also accepted. Find a location here.
Learn About Texas WIC Food List
If you are new or interested in joining Texas WIC, you are likely getting familiar with the Texas WIC food list. There are more WIC foods approved now than ever before.
The WIC program offers free nutritional assistance for mothers to help them raise healthy children until they turn 5 years old. The program offers nutritional support, free classes, breastfeeding support, and free monthly food packages for expecting mothers and their children while they are on the program.
Those Texas WIC free food packages are tailored to the mother’s and children’s nutritional needs as they advance through the program, depending on the child’s age. The food packages may include everything from tuna, milk, and cereal, fruits and vegetables for an expecting mother to the formula for babies and whole wheat pasta, bread, peanut butter, beans, and more for older children.
Texas WIC Food List
Each month you will get more familiar with the Texas WIC food list as you get your WIC groceries. You can also learn more about the food list and packages at TexasWIC.org.
The WIC food list is broken into the following categories: Pregnant women, moms and fully breastfeeding babies, moms and partially breastfeeding babies, moms and formula feeding babies, children 1 to 2 years and children 2 to 5 years.
WIC client’s monthly food package benefits, all the foods from their WIC food list, are loaded onto a WIC EBT card for the client to redeem when shopping for their WIC groceries.
Grocery stores like Lone Star Family Market – which has locations in Austin, Round Rock and San Marcos – help mothers easily shop for WIC groceries. Lone Star Family Market is a primarily WIC grocery store chain that specializes in serving WIC clients. At the store, customers can see the benefits on their WIC EBT card before they shop. Because everything in the store is WIC approved clients don’t have to worry about finding all the correct WIC foods from their list. Bilingual clerks help customers shop for their WIC foods from their list. The WIC clerks are familiar with the WIC program and make WIC shopping easier.
- Learn more about the Texas food list by visiting Texas WIC.
- To find a Lone Star Family Market location, visit us online at: lonestarfamilymarket.com/locations.
- If you are not part of the Texas WIC program, apply online at TexasWIC.org/apply.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs Helps Moms, Children
March is national nutrition month, a time to focus on the importance of good nutrition. Eating nutritious foods is essential for maintaining your health and well-being.
For many people, that means taking steps to improve our diets and eating habits. If you’re looking for ways to get your family on the right track, Texas WIC can help. WIC is a free supplemental nutrition assistance program for expecting mothers, mothers and children up to age 5.
And it’s been shown to be effective: women and children on WIC have improved birth outcomes and it “significantly improves children’s diets,” according to the USDA.
WIC, A NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, HELPS CHILDREN’S & MOMS HEALTH
Free supplemental nutrition assistance programs like WIC helps mothers and their children get a healthy start in many ways, but here are a few ways the supplemental nutrition program helps create healthy eating habits:
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Helping to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are packed with fiber and nutrients, and they’re low in calories. They’re also a great source of antioxidants, which can help protect your body from disease.
Texas WIC is now offering more fruits and vegetable benefits than ever. Last year the program increased the program’s benefits to temporarily include even more fruit and vegetable benefits. Learn more about the expanded fruit and vegetable benefits here.
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Helping get fiber.
Getting fiber is a great way to have a healthy diet. A great way to do that is to get whole grains and legumes into our diets.
Texas WIC helps clients get even more whole grains in their diets. The WIC food lists for expecting mothers and older children include whole grains like whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta and beans, which are filled with fiber.
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Diets with less added sugar.
The WIC program offers healthy cereals as part of its free food benefit packages, to help ensure pregnant women and children have healthy foods that are not filled with extra sugars.
Sometimes the hardest part of the battle is just knowing which cereal to pick. Texas WIC won’t steer you wrong when it comes to picking a healthy cereal.
JOIN WIC, FREE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
If you are interested in joining Texas WIC, start your application online today.
Pick up all your healthy WIC foods – from formula to fruit, vegetables, cereal, whole wheat foods and more – visit Lone Star Family Market. Most of the products at Lone Star Family Market are WIC approved.
WIC Inspired Recipe – Yogurt Bark
It’s no secret that moms are always looking for easy, healthy snacks to pack in their kids’ lunches or to have on hand when the munchies strike. This WIC inspired recipe – yogurt bark treats – are a great option because they’re made with some of your favorite WIC-approved ingredients. And bonus: they’re delicious! So give them a try today. Your kids will love them!
These can easily be made into popsicles too!
So what are you waiting for? Whip up a batch of these yogurt popsicles today and let us know what you think. As always, we love to hear from our customers, so be sure to tag us on social if you make these. And don’t forget to visit Lone Star Family Market for all your WIC grocery needs. We’ve got everything you need, from baby formula, fresh produce to dairy products and beyond.
Yogurt Bark
2 cups Plain Yogurt
¼ cup Maple Syrup
½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
Strawberries, sliced
Blueberries
Chopped Pecans (Optional)
Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla extract, & lemon juice; whisk until thoroughly combined.
Transfer yogurt mixture to a previously prepared baking sheet and spread it around to an even thickness. Top with berries. Garnish with nuts (optional). Freeze for 3 hours or until firm. Cut into pieces and serve. Keep in the freezer.
WIC INSPIRED RECIPE FROM LONE STAR FAMILY MARKET
Get all your WIC groceries in one easy stop at any Lone Star Family Market location in Austin, Round Rock, & San Marcos. Bilingual clerks personally help you get all your WIC foods without all the hassle.
Did you make this WIC Inspired Recipe – Yogurt Bark? Let’s be friends. Tag us on Instagram using @lone_star_family_market or Facebook using @lonestarfamilymarket