The Stress-Free Way To Use Your EBT Card When Shopping At Target

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Grocery shopping can be stressful, especially if you're using an EBT card. The Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, system is part of the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The food assistance program is designed to help Americans stay healthy and cover some of their basic needs, and the EBT card was brought in to replace what were known as "food stamps". It acts much like a debit card, but you can only use it at certain stores and on eligible items. However, many big grocery chains, like Target, take part in the program, and there are some things you can do to help your checkout experience go smoothly.

You can use your EBT card at Target both online and in-person, and all you need to do is swipe the card at checkout and enter your pin. You then select whether to use EBT Cash or your SNAP EBT balance — the first one is for non-food items and the second is for groceries. Any items that aren't covered by the SNAP program, like pet food, cleaning supplies, or alcohol, will need to be paid for separately, so the easiest thing to do is to separate out your cart when you're loading up the items at the register. Put the groceries up first, pay for those, and then use your EBT cash or regular cash to pay for everything else in a separate transaction.

You can find a list of the foods you can use SNAP for on the USDA website, but most standard grocery items should be covered, like bread, cereal, meat, seafood, vegetables, and dairy products. Any seeds that can be used to plant food are also eligible, as well as snacks, coffee, and non-alcoholic drinks. However, the rules vary by state, especially concerning foods that are deemed unhealthy, so make sure to check your local guidelines.

Doing your shopping online can make life even easier, as Target displays a label under items that are covered by SNAP online. The grocer also has a special section on its website for SNAP shoppers, where you can browse the various categories, and there's a page dedicated to all of the promotions the store is running, which is great for those shopping on a budget.

You'll need to create a Target account and link your EBT card, but it's free, and once the card is saved, all you need to do any time you want to shop is sign in, pick out your items, and select the EBT card as the payment method at checkout. Then you just pay for the remaining total with another method, and you can easily remove anything that you thought was covered but wasn't. You can even shop on Target via DoorDash, which accepts SNAP. For more information, just check out Target's help section online.