Food Purchasing Behaviors of WIC Participants: What Non-WIC Eligible Foods Items Are Being Purchased.

Purpose: To describe items purchased during a shopping trip by families enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Design: Cross-sectional, quantitative, observational study.

Setting: Grocery stores in the Newark, Delaware area.

Participants: A convenience sample of mothers (n = 35) were recruited from a local WIC Clinic waiting room.

Measures: The number of items categorized into 12 food groups, (baby food, beverages, dairy, fats/oils, fruit, vegetables, grains, protein, preprepared, seasonings, sweets, and other) extracted from grocery receipts.

Analysis: Means and frequencies were used to analyze continuous and categorical data, respectively, for receipt data and demographics.

Results: The most common foods purchased not included as part of the WIC food package included protein (1.0 [standard deviation, SD 3.0]), preprepared foods (0.9 [SD 2.0]), and other foods (1.0 [SD 1.9]). The most frequent foods purchased included as part of the WIC food package included fruit (2.3 [SD 1.5]), grains (1.7 [SD 1.6]), and dairy (1.5 [SD 0.8]).

Conclusions: Further investigation of foods purchased that were not part of the WIC food package is warranted, as understanding food purchases particularly among low-income mothers may inform nutrition education practices.