An EBT card loaded with SNAP benefits covers food and non-alcoholic drinks meant to be prepared and eaten at home: fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread, cereal, snacks, cooking ingredients, and even seeds and plants that grow food for your household. What EBT does not cover with SNAP is alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and supplements, hot prepared food at the register, pet food, and household items like paper towels, diapers, and cleaning supplies. If your card also carries TANF cash benefits, that account follows a separate, broader set of rules explained further down.
Food You Can Buy With SNAP
The eligible list is wide. Fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, dairy, bread, and cereal all qualify, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re fresh, frozen, canned, or dried. Snack foods, non-alcoholic beverages, spices, oils, baked goods, and ice cream are all in. So are seeds and plants that produce food for your household to eat, which means SNAP can pay for a vegetable garden.1Food and Nutrition Service. What Can SNAP Buy
Live animals are generally off-limits, with one practical exception: shellfish, fish removed from water, and animals slaughtered before you pick them up from the store are eligible. Live lobsters or crabs at a seafood counter are fine.1Food and Nutrition Service. What Can SNAP Buy
Energy drinks and protein shakes sit in a gray zone that depends entirely on the label. If the product carries a Nutrition Facts label, it counts as food and SNAP will cover it. If the same product carries a Supplement Facts label instead, it’s classified as a supplement and won’t ring through.2Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Notice – Allowable Items Flip the package over before you get to the register.
One more thing in your favor at checkout: retailers cannot charge state or local sales tax on items you pay for with SNAP, even on foods that are normally taxed.3Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Notice – Bag Fees, Sales Tax, Seasonal Items
What SNAP Won’t Pay For
Alcohol and tobacco are the obvious exclusions. Vitamins, medicines, and anything with a Supplement Facts label are also out, regardless of where you’re shopping.1Food and Nutrition Service. What Can SNAP Buy
Non-food household items don’t qualify either. Cleaning supplies, paper towels, pet food, diapers, toiletries, and cosmetics all have to be paid for another way. If it isn’t something a person eats or drinks, SNAP won’t cover it.2Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Notice – Allowable Items
Hot food at the point of sale is the exclusion that catches people most often. A rotisserie chicken under the deli heat lamp can’t be bought with SNAP, but the same chicken cold in the meat case can. The deciding factor is whether the food is hot when you buy it, not what the food is.2Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Notice – Allowable Items
The Restaurant Meals Exception
Hot prepared meals are off-limits for most SNAP users, but the Restaurant Meals Program is a narrow exception. It’s a state option rather than a nationwide benefit. As of 2025, nine states run it: Arizona, California, Illinois (limited to Cook and Franklin Counties), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia.4Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Restaurant Meals Program
Even in those states, eligibility is limited. Every member of the household has to fit at least one of these categories:
- Age 60 or older
- Disabled and receiving disability or blindness payments
- Experiencing homelessness
- Spouse of someone who meets one of the above
Participating restaurants have to be approved by both the state and the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service before they can accept SNAP.4Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Restaurant Meals Program
TANF Cash on the Same Card Follows Different Rules
Plenty of people don’t realize an EBT card can carry two separate accounts. SNAP follows the food-only rules above. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash benefits, when you receive them, sit on the same card but work more like a debit card. TANF cash can pay for clothing, diapers, toiletries, gasoline, and other household needs that SNAP won’t touch.
Federal law does restrict where TANF cash can be used. States must block TANF-funded EBT transactions at liquor stores, casinos or gambling establishments, and adult entertainment venues.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 608 – Prohibitions; Requirements The rule is about the type of business, not the specific product; federal law doesn’t ban buying a particular item with TANF cash, it bans any TANF transaction at those categories of business.6ACF. Q and A: TANF Requirements Related to EBT Transactions Some states add prohibited locations beyond the federal minimum.
If you’re not sure whether your card holds both accounts, check your most recent benefit notice or call the number on the back of your card. At the register, the terminal will usually prompt you to choose between the food account and the cash account when you have both.
Where You Can Shop
Most grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores that the USDA has authorized accept EBT. The USDA’s SNAP Retailer Locator lets you search by address or zip code.7Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Retailer Locator Many farmers’ markets also accept EBT, and dozens of states run programs that match SNAP dollars spent on fresh produce there.
Your card works across state lines. Federal regulations require every state’s EBT system to be interoperable, so a card issued in one state has to be accepted at authorized retailers in every other state.8eCFR. 7 CFR 274.8 – Functional and Technical EBT System Requirements You still apply through your home state, but you can spend anywhere.
SNAP online purchasing is available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Amazon, Walmart, and several regional grocery chains let you shop the site or app and pay with EBT for pickup or delivery. The food-only rules still apply. Delivery fees, service charges, convenience fees, and tips cannot be paid with SNAP.9Food and Nutrition Service. Stores Accepting SNAP Online When an order mixes eligible groceries with ineligible items or fees, the system splits the transaction and you cover the rest with another payment method.
Benefits Expire If You Don’t Use the Card
SNAP benefits don’t stay on your card indefinitely. Federal regulations require states to expunge benefits from EBT accounts that have been inactive for nine months (274 days), with the oldest benefits going first.10eCFR. 7 CFR 274.2
States handle this in one of two ways. Some track inactivity at the account level, so any transaction on the card keeps the whole balance alive. Others track each monthly allotment on its own, expunging each one nine months after issuance no matter what else has happened on the card.10eCFR. 7 CFR 274.2 If you’re not spending your full balance each month, an occasional purchase in the first type of state protects what’s left.