SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still widely called food stamps — is a monthly benefit for buying groceries. It is federally funded and administered by the state, and it is paid onto an electronic card rather than in cash. This page is a plain-language guide. Applications, eligibility decisions and case questions are handled by the State of Florida through its own official channels.
SNAP is aimed at households whose income and resources fall below limits set for their size. A household here means the people who buy and prepare food together, which is not always the same as everyone living under one roof — that distinction changes the answer surprisingly often.
Some groups have their own rules: households with an elderly or disabled member are treated differently, students have restrictions, and adults without dependants can face work requirements and time limits.
The card works at authorised grocery stores, most supermarkets, many corner shops and a growing number of farmers' markets. It covers food for the household to prepare at home, including seeds and plants that produce food.
It does not cover alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and medicines, hot prepared meals, pet food or any non-food item. Trying to split a mixed basket at the till is the usual way people discover where the line falls.
Approvals run for a set period and end unless the household recertifies. Between recertifications, changes in income, household size or address generally have to be reported.
Selling or trading benefits is fraud and costs a household the programme, so it is worth being clear that the card is only ever used by the household it was issued to.