Mar and myself (Dav) were on WIC for a brief spell and what that program did was provide coupons for specific items to feed our toddler (milk, juice, peanut butter, cheese). It was a weird melange of items and there was no way our child was going to down the amount of milk they provided us with). We ended up giving some to a friend who was trying to make ends meet.
A couple of points about this: First, these programs are random, haphazard, not targeted. We were given coupons for something like 8 gallons of milk to help us through a period of 1 month. We had one toddler. If that child had consumed all the milk “provided”, she would likely have gone through puberty at the age of 6 (given all the hormones in cows these days.)
Second, while using a shot-gun approach to the problem, identifying specific items is the way to go here. We couldn’t buy anything with those coupons except the items specified. This is what needs to be done with EBT. If you ring up an item that is not on an approved list, it will not deduct from your EBT account and the cashier will announce, “That’s 57.80 [for the non-EBT items—maybe applying just the right touch of wake-up and shame at check-out].”
I know, this is more government, but it moves us in the direction of reducing waste/abuse. Perhaps each state can create their own lists via ballot initiatives, careful to include locally produced products (oranges in Florida, tomatoes in New Jersey, road kill from West Virginia — JUST kidding).
If you attempt to use an EBT card in a grocery and have bought non-EBT items, cleaning supplies as an example, an error is generated when you swipe the EBT card.
I have seen this happen. The cashier has to void the entire order. The customer has to swipe the card and then the cashier reswipes all the items looking for the non-EBT ones. Real pain in the ass.