Some supermarkets welcome, inform food-stamp recipents

Kroger CEO starts helping customers with food stamps, WIC. Dave Dillion, chairman and CEO of Kroger, often visits his stores to talk with customers and see for himself what works and what doesn't, according to a recent AP story. His involvement helps explain why Kroger's earnings are up while earnings for other groceries are down. Dillion noticed that the number of customers using food stamps had doubled, resulting in many new recipients who were unsure about what they could buy. To reduce the frustration and time of having items rejected at checkout, Dillion has brought in new signs to help explain what items are allowed and also trained employees to help customers use the program.

As I report in today's Cook for Good newsletter, the Kroger I visited in Raleigh is starting to roll out better signage, but has quite a ways to go. They have labels for WIC-approved items, but not for food stamps.

Have you seen any effort to identify eligible items in your grocery store? Have you experienced or seen confusion in using the programs? Have you see any stores charging people extra who use WIC or food stamps (SNAP)? These fees are illegal, but I was told by a clerk that there is a 50-cent fee for each use of the food-stamp Electronic Benefits Transfer card. The store management later told me that had never been the case.

"Good start" funding for nutritional supplements

What an excellent meeting yesterday with Patrick Brennan, legislative assistant for Senator Kay Hagan. We talked about the need for "good start" money for some people when they first receive nutritional supplement funding such as food stamps, SNAP, or WIC. This money would let them get started and make the best use of resources.

How? By providing a little extra money so they can cook at home, from scratch when possible. The money could be used to buy kitchen essentials, like salt, baking powder, and mustard. For some, it would be used to buy a pot, a kitchen knife, and enough plates and cutlery for everyone. Many people without traditional kitchens could cook if they had an electric rice cooker, crock pot, or skillet.

Patrick said he thought the idea was worthy of being considered as a potential addition to the next farm bill. I'll be sending him more info and keeping you posted here.

Meanwhile, let's thank Senator Hagan for her great work on the Tester-Hagan amendment to the current farm bill. This amendment would protect small, local food producers from regulations aimed at industrial-sized operations. Ask your senators to support this amendment with the Senate reconvenes.

What do you consider to be a kitchen essential? If you were cooking for weeks in a hotel room or on a picnic table at a campground, what would you need?