Several Loopers and my college friend Jennifer have talked about how good raw milk is for you. Several months ago I bought the book, Nourishing Traditions and have slowly started to do some of the suggestions in this book. I don't know if we will ever make all of the lifestyle changes suggested in this book, but some is better than nothing. I didn't have a source to get raw milk. We live in a very small town in the country, but there doesn't seem to be very many dairy farmers around here any more. When I went to this meeting I asked where to buy raw milk. I was given some names but I never followed up on it.
Just before Christmas our babysitter was late one day because she had to go with her mom to get their milk. I asked if they would be willing to pick me up a gallon when they went. They ended up getting several gallons so their friends in their town were stocked up before the blizzard. That ended up being very good because we DID get the weather predicted. Lamb 1 will probably never drink milk after MSPI-not even raw milk and had no desire to try raw milk. Lamb 2 had a few glasses to taste it but didn't love it. Lamb 3 had been having bad diaper rash so I didn't try him on raw milk that time. So Ram and I enjoyed that gallon of raw milk around Christmas time. The family of Ram's best friend when he was growing up drank raw milk. Ram has never liked store bought milk since then.
Next, our babysitter suggested that she go along one day and show me where they go to get milk. Between our schedules, Ram going to the funeral, and when they allow buying milk (all day on odd days, before noon on even days), the first day we were able to go together was last Wednesday. I was glad it was a warmer day in the 30s! We drove across the border to SD. The family that sells the milk homeschools and has several children. First we got the milk. Then they tried to show us the cows but the Lambs were too scared of the huge animals. Then they showed us the chickens. While we were getting the milk some of their boys got us some eggs. Then they showed us the calves and the Lambs were a little more eager to see them as long as they didn't have to get too close. Then they showed us the pigs. They had some huge sows close to delivery. I should have taken pictures, but I didn't remember. They run an organic farm and the organic raw milk was $3 a gallon. The organic eggs were $2 a dozen. Their boys were very helpful loading everything up in the car too. It also helped that I had our babysitter along to help load the Lambs! They have lots of cats and Lamb 2 was even brave enough to pet the cats!
Next, a complete surprise to me, someone in our small town called and asked if I would be interested...they deliver newspapers all over the county on Saturdays and while they are out they stop at a farm and buy themselves milk...she just wondered if I would be interested in getting milk too since they were already going. It is $4 a gallon and the farm provides the jars. I took her up on this offer because I don't have to drive anywhere-she will deliver it on Saturdays when they are done with their paper route. She didn't know why her husband suggested that she ask if we would like milk. I hadn't told anyone here in town that I was going with my babysitter to get raw milk in SD. Perhaps she thought of us because we have children?
So, now my plan is to get the milk delivered during the winter from here in MN and go over to SD and buy the milk in the summer. We go quite often over to SD to a friend's produce stand in the summer and we can stop and buy milk when we go get produce. But it will be nice to have it delivered in the winter.
I don't think we are going to be getting much milk from WIC any more-I'd rather pay for the raw milk. Part of the reason we decided this is when Lamb 3 turns 2 in April, we can no longer get whole milk. We were using most of the milk that we got with WIC to make yogurt and we like our yogurt made with whole milk.
Showing posts with label WIC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WIC. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, October 9, 2009
WIC
Ram's mom listened to a NPR show a few years ago and told us that WIC was drastically changing their program soon to include fresh fruits and veggies. Then I thought I'll believe it when I see it. My friends in Wisconsin told me they get vouchers to go to the farmer's market. When I talked to our WIC office at that time, they said we are a long way away from farmer's market, but fresh fruits and veggies were coming, but they didn't know when.
Then I heard that the changes were finally here in August. The problem was that we had just received our vouchers and didn't have an appointment until October. Some of our friends had their appointments and talked about how wonderful the program was now. I finally had our appointment this week and got my new vouchers.
Lamb 1 has outgrown WIC. It goes from pregnant until age 5. Lamb 2 and 3 are both on WIC and even though Lamb 3 still breastfeeds at night, he has outgrown the breastfeeding benefits. When you pick up your WIC vouchers you meet with them and they talk about nutrition. Then you have some choices like would you like peanut butter or dried beans? With the changes in the program I had a lot more choices to make today. Because I have two children, I was able to choose a lot more. There are very specific directions about what brands/kinds of the foods you are allowed to get. Infants and breastfeeding mothers get a lot more benefits that aren't shown in our Lambs vouchers.
Here is what we used to get for Lamb 2 and 3 each month before the new program:
(This is the total amount we get for both of them together.)
8 lbs of cheese
6 juice (either frozen or bottled)
2 dozen eggs
4 gallons milk
2 peanut butter
36 oz+36 oz cereal
This what we get for Lamb 2 and 3 each month with the new program:
(This is the total amount we get for both of them together. This shows what choices I made-another person in WIC may have made totally different choices so their vouchers may look very different. For example, they may have chose all peanut butter and no beans. Obviously because we have two children in WIC, we get more than a person with only one child.)
7 gallons milk
1 package corn or whole grain tortillas
1 package dry beans, peas, or lentils
36 oz+ 36 oz cereal
4 refrigerated or frozen juice
3 packages brown rice or oatmeal
2 dozen eggs
12 dollars fresh fruits or veggies (or frozen or canned ones that are allowed)
1 lb cheese
4 canned beans
My biggest complaint with the WIC before the changes was you were not allowed to get plain oatmeal, only instant. We use a lot of oatmeal for eating for breakfast, meatloaf, cookies, etc. I still think the new program gives far too much milk, but other than that, I can tell it is much improved in the new program to eat healthier. We actually cook from scratch and use these ingredients in our cooking a lot-canned beans, fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, brown rice, oatmeal, dried beans, dried peas, dried lentils, and tortillas. We will really use the new items in the program. I'm not sure the average person on WIC would use all these items, but maybe if they get them free they will try a new recipe?
We are so thankful to be part of WIC and we know that it saves us a lot of money on groceries. I also like to be part of a program that the government is supporting mothers and children. It is a positive to me that the mothers didn't abort the babies and the government supports that. It is another positive to me that if you have a large family, you get more support for all those children age 5 and under. There aren't very many government programs like that.
After reading this post by Pam, Ram has a new goal to get me pregnant so we get even more WIC! If you don't know-I'll be 36 in November, I eat healthy, I'm 5'10, and we have 3 Lambs.
It will take us a few months to get used to shopping with the new program. With the old program, Ram pretty much had memorized what to get. He would go get the WIC while I did the regular shopping. Whoever was done first (it was usually Ram) would meet the other and help them finish shopping and then we would check out together. It won't be so clear cut now as many of the new WIC items are on our regular grocery list. We may need to shop together for a few months until we get used to the program. If it saves us money, it is worth that extra time to learn the program.
Then I heard that the changes were finally here in August. The problem was that we had just received our vouchers and didn't have an appointment until October. Some of our friends had their appointments and talked about how wonderful the program was now. I finally had our appointment this week and got my new vouchers.
Lamb 1 has outgrown WIC. It goes from pregnant until age 5. Lamb 2 and 3 are both on WIC and even though Lamb 3 still breastfeeds at night, he has outgrown the breastfeeding benefits. When you pick up your WIC vouchers you meet with them and they talk about nutrition. Then you have some choices like would you like peanut butter or dried beans? With the changes in the program I had a lot more choices to make today. Because I have two children, I was able to choose a lot more. There are very specific directions about what brands/kinds of the foods you are allowed to get. Infants and breastfeeding mothers get a lot more benefits that aren't shown in our Lambs vouchers.
Here is what we used to get for Lamb 2 and 3 each month before the new program:
(This is the total amount we get for both of them together.)
8 lbs of cheese
6 juice (either frozen or bottled)
2 dozen eggs
4 gallons milk
2 peanut butter
36 oz+36 oz cereal
This what we get for Lamb 2 and 3 each month with the new program:
(This is the total amount we get for both of them together. This shows what choices I made-another person in WIC may have made totally different choices so their vouchers may look very different. For example, they may have chose all peanut butter and no beans. Obviously because we have two children in WIC, we get more than a person with only one child.)
7 gallons milk
1 package corn or whole grain tortillas
1 package dry beans, peas, or lentils
36 oz+ 36 oz cereal
4 refrigerated or frozen juice
3 packages brown rice or oatmeal
2 dozen eggs
12 dollars fresh fruits or veggies (or frozen or canned ones that are allowed)
1 lb cheese
4 canned beans
My biggest complaint with the WIC before the changes was you were not allowed to get plain oatmeal, only instant. We use a lot of oatmeal for eating for breakfast, meatloaf, cookies, etc. I still think the new program gives far too much milk, but other than that, I can tell it is much improved in the new program to eat healthier. We actually cook from scratch and use these ingredients in our cooking a lot-canned beans, fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, brown rice, oatmeal, dried beans, dried peas, dried lentils, and tortillas. We will really use the new items in the program. I'm not sure the average person on WIC would use all these items, but maybe if they get them free they will try a new recipe?
We are so thankful to be part of WIC and we know that it saves us a lot of money on groceries. I also like to be part of a program that the government is supporting mothers and children. It is a positive to me that the mothers didn't abort the babies and the government supports that. It is another positive to me that if you have a large family, you get more support for all those children age 5 and under. There aren't very many government programs like that.
After reading this post by Pam, Ram has a new goal to get me pregnant so we get even more WIC! If you don't know-I'll be 36 in November, I eat healthy, I'm 5'10, and we have 3 Lambs.
It will take us a few months to get used to shopping with the new program. With the old program, Ram pretty much had memorized what to get. He would go get the WIC while I did the regular shopping. Whoever was done first (it was usually Ram) would meet the other and help them finish shopping and then we would check out together. It won't be so clear cut now as many of the new WIC items are on our regular grocery list. We may need to shop together for a few months until we get used to the program. If it saves us money, it is worth that extra time to learn the program.
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