Government Waste

Warning: Semi-political musings ahead!

So, I'm sure everyone has heard stories about government waste. $1000 toilet seats and whatnot. But, as I was at the grocery store today, I started getting more and more angry about a government waste that I have first hand experience with.

Government waste at the grocery store? What am I talking about? Food stamps?

Nope, WIC.

And technically not the entire WIC program.

We qualify for WIC. It was very close, but the requirements are actually really high for this government program and I finally convinced Jake that we should take advantage of it. I'm not going to say it isn't a hassle; if we didn't get $20/mo. in produce then I don't think I'd bother.

Anyway, the reason I mention government waste and WIC together is that we receive an obscene amount of milk on the program. So much milk, in fact, that we end up pouring out several gallons a month.

Today I went and spent our entire monthly WIC allowance at once because it was on the verge of expiring. This meant that I had 6 checks to use in addition to buying the other groceries we needed for the next 2 or so weeks.

I ended up leaving with 8 gallons and 2 quarts of milk. What the hell am I supposed to do with that much milk at once? Heck, what am I supposed to do with that much milk a month? The only members of our family that drink milk are Spencer and sometimes Jack (usually his sippy cup is filled with water since he's still nursing). Jake will usually only use milk in his cereal and he'll use it to dip cookies in when I bake some. I don't drink it because even skim milk has 2 weight watchers points in 8 ounces.

We have a deep freezer, but we don't have space for 8 gallons, not by a long shot. When I went out to stick some gallons in there today, there were still 3 gallons and a quart in the freezer from last month.

Milk is between $3-4 a gallon. They may only be wasting $20 a month on my family, but multiply that by the number of people on WIC and I'm sure it would be a substantial amount of money. That's not to say that everyone on the program doesn't drink all the milk. I know that my friend Kibbon's family does drink all their milk. But they do get less than us since she isn't nursing anymore.

I've tried giving it away to no avail. Everyone I know is either on WIC or doesn't need it. I wish I could donate it to a food bank, but they want non-perishables only. Maybe I'll have a milk stand on the side of the road this summer.