The food stamps (SNAP) program is intended to provide eligible low income individuals and families with money to by food. At the end of 2017, more than 43 million people were receiving benefits, including over 21 million households. If you are currently receiving food stamps, there is a list of items you are allowed to buy with your EBT Card. You can lose your EBT cash benefits if you are caught buying items that are not approved by the USDA. In this post, we will provide the full list of what you can buy with food stamps in Georgia, and answer reader questions around the purchase of soda, energy drinks, coffee, baby formula, deli food, fast food, hot food, and pet food with EBT Card.
In order to understand what makes up the list of eligible food items, it’s important to explain the reason behind it. The goal of the food stamps program is to provide money for low income individuals and families to purchase food they intend to prepare at home. The key here is that you are expected to buy food that you are going to take home and make. Therefore, food that is already prepared, like hot food or fast food are prohibited, with exceptions made in extreme cases. Also, since it’s a program for food purchases, it is obvious why non-food items are also prohibited.
Recently, Republicans in Congress have been proposing changes to the rules that will restrict food stamps purchases to nutritious foods only. Whether that change is going to be made or pushed by the Trump Administration remains to be seen.
Below is the list of eligible food items and a list of what you CANNOT buy with your SNAP/EBT Card.
What you can buy with Food Stamps in Georgia?
Some of our readers have asked whether they are allowed to buy energy drinks like Red Bull with their EBT Card. Here is what the USDA has to say about using your EBT Card to purchase energy drinks:
Another question we get a lot has to do with EBT and Junk Food purchase. As we mentioned above, Republicans in Congress want to eliminate junk food from the list of food items you can buy with your EBT card. Until that change is made, here is what the KUSA has to say about using your Food Stamps to purchase junk food.
Don’t Sell Your EBT Card for Cash
It is illegal to sell or trade your EBT Card for cash. If you are caught, you will lose your benefits and may go to jail. Watch this under cover investigation that was conducted by USA Today where they found two people selling EBT cards for cash, including one person with a Georgia EBT Card.
We hope this article has been helpful in explaining the eligible EBT food list. If you have further questions about what you can and cannot buy with your EBT card, or other questions related to what you can buy with Food Stamps in Georgia, ask us in the comments section below.