Read This Before Swiping Your EBT Card To Buy Groceries

As the cost of groceries goes up and the pandemic rages on, many are finding themselves filling out applications for food stamps (aka SNAP benefits). If you haven’t done so yet, now’s the perfect time to apply for SNAP since the government made it easier to qualify for food stamps while also increasing benefits to improve your purchasing power. And as a bonus, you can now use your EBT card for online grocery delivery via Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, etc., which is perfect during the pandemic if you’re looking to stay home and avoid crowds.

Unlike the old days where you used “food coupons” to pay for groceries if you were a food stamp recipient, you now get an EBT card that can be swiped at checkout. Can you buy anything you want with your EBT card? No, as there are restrictions. Keep reading to see what they are.

What You Can Buy With Your EBT Card

As you can tell by its name, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was implemented to help people buy nutritious foods. As such, here are items you can purchase with your EBT card at participating grocery stores:

• Bread
• Cereal
• Dairy
• Fish
• Fruits
• Meat
• Non-alcoholic beverages
• Plants/seeds to grow your own food
• Poultry
• Seafood
• Shellfish
• Snacks
• Soda
• Vegetables
• Water

As you can see from that list, most of those items can be considered essential to one’s nutrition and not luxuries. But contrary to popular belief, you can buy certain “goodies” with your EBT card that may not seem so essential, such as:

• Birthday cakes
• Brownies
• Chicken nuggets
• Chips
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Cupcakes
• Deli meats and cheeses
• Edible pumpkins
• Energy drinks, if they have a Nutrition Facts label instead of a Supplement Facts label
• Frozen treats
• Frozen yogurt
• Gift baskets, provided their food items attribute to over 50 percent of the total cost
• Gum/mints
• Ice cream
• Items from the bakery like bagels, donuts, and muffins
• Live seafood like clams, oysters, lobster, and shrimp
• Popsicles

Why can you buy such items with your SNAP benefits? Even though Congress wanted to limit the purchase of those foods, they realized it would be too costly to ban them from EBT usage, so they decided to label them as “food,” making them eligible.

What You Cannot Buy With Your EBT Card

Now that you know what you can buy with your EBT card, let’s look at the no-nos:

• Beer
• Cigarettes
• Cleaning supplies
• Cosmetics
• Hot food
• Household supplies
• Items with Supplement Facts labels
• Liquor
• Live animals other than seafood/shellfish
• Medicines
• Paper products
• Personal hygiene products
• Pet food/supplies
• Prepared food
• Prescriptions
• Soap products
• Supplements
• Tobacco
• Vitamins
• Wine

Since the rules are constantly changing, it’s important to note that some of those items could be eligible for purchase with your EBT card in the future.