Imagine going to the store for peanut butter and the shelf tag says it’s $9.49 for 8 oz that will only last less than a week. 8 oz. is about 8 servings. Bread costs $13.99 a loaf. Kids love peanut butter sandwiches, but your wallet doesn’t.
You think, “What about spaghetti instead?”. That spaghetti that used to cost $1 a pound is now $11.49 a pound. That hurts even more!
Now, the kids are fussing because there’s nothing to eat. Last ditch effort: milk and cereal… except you can’t get milk because 30 units costs $700. Cereal now costs $16.49 for 16 servings.
To serve this child 3 SAFE meals a day, for a month, will eventually cost me about $900 just for him, after his is dropped from WIC.
To put in perspective, we only bring in $1160 a month, and SNAP will not pay for his food. Even if it did, we only get $470 to feed 5 people total. WIC is his only way of getting formula right now, but that will not last.
So, yes, “Houston, we have a problem!” Right now, he gets formula through WIC. After age 5, though, we will probably have to pay for it.