How to Use SNAP

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) puts your monthly benefit on the Colorado EBT card, which works like a debit card. The Colorado EBT Card can be used wherever you see the “QUEST” logo outside a grocery store or merchant. Many farmers markets also accept SNAP benefits.

You can use SNAP benefits to buy:

• Foods for the household to eat, such as:
  • Breads and cereals
  • Fruits and vegetables
  • Meats, fish, and poultry
  • Dairy products, and
• Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.

SNAP benefits cannot be used to buy:

• Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
• Any nonfood items, such as:
  • Pet foods
  • Soaps
  • Paper products
  • Household supplies
• Vitamins and medicines
• Food to be eaten in the store or hot foods, and
• Food in a restaurant.

See the complete rules on how to use the EBT card, including stores where it cannot be used.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) gives free food to people with low income, through soup kitchens or food banks. TEFAP gives an extra food box, on top of your SNAP benefits. If you get SNAP, you automatically qualify for TEFAP.

Learn more about TEFAP, including ways you might get it even if you don’t get SNAP.

Get more info about TEFAP:

• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a TEFAP website.
• View a full list of TEFAP distribution partners in Colorado, including when they distribute food boxes.
• Food Bank of the Rockies lets you search for a food bank.