To be eligible for benefits, a health professional at your WIC appointment must also find you to be at “nutrition risk,” but, as over half of all United States babies are on WIC, WIC workers are clearly looking for a reason to label your family this way so they can help you get food. The household income cutoff is 185% of the poverty line, so currently, that’s $37,777 in most states for a family of three, or $45,510 for a family of four (and if you’re pregnant, your fetus counts as a family member). (Parents, step-parents, guardians, and foster parents can apply for their children.) You need to reside in the United States any of the 50 states, 5 US territories, Washington DC, or any of 34 Indian Tribal Organizations but you don’t need to be a US citizen to get WIC benefits (this is true even in states like Arizona where many other benefits require proof of citizenship). To be eligible for WIC, you must be pregnant or have an infant or a child less than 5 years old. WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children, and it’s a government nutrition program that serves more than half of all infants born in the United States, and about a quarter of all children ages 1-4. While not all WIC options are vegan, WIC provides my family with about $90 of free vegan food each month.

You might have heard of WIC and wondered whether there are WIC vegan food options.

If you live in the United States and are pregnant or have a kid under 5, you might be eligible for free food through WIC.

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