Food Stamps & The Food Stamps Application
When you supplement your grocery shopping money with food stamps, it’s important to do some planning before you shop. Not all stores accept food stamps as forms of payment, so you need to make sure that your local grocery store does before trying to redeem them there.
An easy way to tell if a store accepts food stamps is if they have a sign in their window or on their door advertising that they accept them. Most often, these signs appear beside or near the Visa and MasterCard stickers that advertise when a store accepts credit as forms of payment. Another way to tell if a store accepts food stamps is to ask. If you don’t want to ask in person, just call ahead, and someone will easily be able to answer your question.
What are the requirements for accepting food stamps?
Just as consumers have to fit certain criteria to be eligible to fill out a food stamps application, stores must fit requirements to accept food stamps as forms of payment. There are two criteria for accepting food stamps, and stores must fill at least one them.
1. The store must regularly sell at least three varieties of foods in each of the following categories, two of which must contain perishable items:
• Breads and cereals
• Dairy products
• Fruits and vegetables
• Meat, fish or poultry
2. More than half of the store’s total sales must be in staple foods, which are any edible items other than candy, soft drinks or prepared foods.
What national chains accept food stamps?
More and more stores are accepting food stamps every day. While this is not a comprehensive list, and it may vary from store to store, the following national chains have all publicly stated that they either currently accept food stamps as a form of payment, or will in the near future.
• 7-11
• BJ’s Wholesale Club
• Coscto
• CVS
• Family Dollar
• Sam’s Club
• Target
• Wal-Mart
