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Even families, with LOTS of kids, do NOT need ten big jars of peanut butter, jam, cartons of TP & paper towels, multiple gallons of cooking oil, etc
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I have been prepping long enough that some of my 25-year emergency staples are nearing expiration. I’ve had to throw out about 4-5 tins that were showing rust or (one) actually rusted out.

There’s only 2 of us and we’re at the age where we eat less, so I won’t speak for those with growing kids who can wipe out 2 gallons of milk,loaves of bread and large jars of peanut butter & jelly in one meal. I remember those days.

Except for produce, I’m amazed at how long most items last and how far I can stretch them. And I’ve even learned to preserve fresh produce about 2x as long as I once did.

I was shopping one day, pre-virus, and ran into the daughter of a friend who had 5 kids (oldest was 14 at the time)and was pregnant at the time. She and her husband run a farm and he has a construction company with his many brothers (family of 8 kids). They raise their own beef, one brother runs hogs and they all have gardens and some have chickens/eggs. This mom bakes a lot. Her cart was overflowing, she was ahead of me, and the bill was over $250. She had separated out the WIC items.

Later, I ran into her mother. Mother was a teacher; Dad was a doctor; they ran beef and had a rental property portfolio.
Mom said:”Well, at least we’re getting _some_ of all the taxes we ever paid back.” They had 4 kids and have something close to 10 grands.

WRT to the article, I’ve seen the WIC shelves and it seems to me the items aren’t limited to economy brands, but to healthy foods. WIC only applies to those with kids under a certain age, IIRC, as well as pregnant women. Two years old? Something like that.

There’s really no shortage specific to WIC foods. You can buy any veggie, Jif or Smuckers, etc. Heck, those 1/2 gallon grape jelly bottles are cheap.

Lots of hard-working, religious conservatives are eligible for WIC. I can’t begrudge them. As the kids get older, the parents are paying more and more in all sorts of taxes while increasing the number of Christian conservatives. In one family of 9 kids, the second tranche of boys had a landscaping business for 4 years until the youngest of the 3 graduated high school. These kids paid taxes at the age of 14 and had three siblings still in elementary school.