Can you use ebt for hot food

Restaurant Meals is a CalFresh Program that allows you to use your Golden State Advantage (EBT) card to purchase prepared meals from participating restaurants. This program is available to you, if you meet one of the following conditions:

• Homeless
• Elderly - age 60 years or older and his/her spouse (husband, wife, common-law husband, common-law wife)
• Disabled and his/her spouse (husband, wife, common-law husband, common-law wife) - Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits; Railroad Retirement Benefit Annuities; or Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI).

Purchasing Meals Is As Easy As 1 – 2 – 3

1.    Look for participating restaurants (updated June 2022) displaying the Restaurant Meals sign (below), or ask your Eligibility Worker for a list of participating restaurants.

2.    Purchase breakfast, lunch, and dinner from participating restaurants by using your Golden State Advantage (EBT) card.

3.    Receive a receipt for each meal purchase to show the cost of your meal and the balance on your Golden State Advantage (EBT) CalFresh benefits account.

Look for participating restaurants displaying this sign:

HOT bars are a magical part of grocery stores that allow shoppers to scoop up big containers of mac and cheese and whole rotisserie chickens. 

But they’re off-limits to people using food stamps.

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The rule, which isn't new, has angered some who've vented recently on Twitter.

“Normal, great country,” one New York City public defender wrote of the rule in a viral tweet last week, which featured a photo of a sticker reading “NO HOT FOOD WITH EBT” on a deli case of fries, sandwiches, and sides.

Meanwhile, another commented: "Snapped the same thing at one of the gas stations in my town just yesterday. Ghoulish behavior."

Why you can't use SNAP benefits to buy hot food

By law, SNAP benefits can't be used to buy hot foods for immediate consumption.

Claimants have been banned from doing so since the passage of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977.

Since the definition of food for SNAP purposes is a specific part of the Act, any change would require the passage of a new law by Congress, USDA notes.

The reason, as explained by the Department of Agriculture, is that food stamps are intended to help provide food for home consumption, not food generally.

USDA encourages SNAP recipients to buy staples, such as bread, cereal, fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and dairy in order to cook at home.

Another reason behind the temperature rule is also, in part, that hot, prepared food is generally more expensive.

SNAP is supposed to help provide a low-cost diet to people that need assistance meeting their nutritional needs, and each dollar is supposed to “really count,” Tracy Roof, an associate professor of political science at the University of Richmon, told Vice.

Lastly, another reason comes due to competition issues within the industry.

During a debate on the 1977 Food Stamp Act, the House Agriculture Committee thought that, if fast food stores cannot redeem food stamps, grocery stores should not be given an unfair advantage.

What are the exceptions?

Despite SNAP claimants' inability to purchase hot foods at the grocery store, some claimants (e.g. elderly, homeless and disabled SNAP recipients) can purchase hot meals at authorized restaurants through the SNAP restaurant meals program.

Each state has the authority to determine whether or not food stamps can be used in fast-food restaurants under the restaurant meals program.

During times of natural disaster and severe weather, state governors have also requested federal waivers to ensure people could use their food stamps on hot meals at certain retailers.

According to the Food Stamp Act of 1964, eligible foods include any foods for human consumption except tobacco products, medicine, live animals, cleaning supplies, makeup, hot foods, pet food and foods identified on the package as imported meat products.

We explain what you can and can't spend food stamps on.

How to apply to SNAP

If you are looking to apply to SNAP, you will need to pass two income tests and two asset tests.

Generally, SNAP is limited to people with gross incomes up to 130% of the federal poverty line.

You also have to apply for the program in the state where you currently reside.

Each state has a different application form, but when you connect with your local SNAP program, the agents there should be able to help you with the application process.

The Sun also explains how food stamp claimants can get a new EBT card if yours is lost or stolen.

Here's when you will get your SNAP benefits in your state and we explain whether Starbucks accepts SNAP benefits as payment.

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