You can double your SNAP and P-EBT benefits in Colorado when you shop at a participating market! If you know where to shop, you can actually buy a lot more for your money.
What is Double Up Food Bucks?
Double Up Food Bucks is a nationwide movement that makes healthy groceries more affordable for low income families. Shoppers who use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits can double the value of their purchase when they use this program.
The goal of the program is to give low income shoppers the ability to buy more healthy produce and incentivizing them to make healthier choices.
How do I use Double Up Food Bucks?
Using Double Up Food Bucks is actually very easy. As long as you’re already getting SNAP food benefits, then you just need to find a participating market or grocery near you.
The program works a little differently depending on where you’re shopping.
If you’re shopping at a participating grocery store, you’ll get a dollar-for-dollar discount on your SNAP eligible items. You can use your SNAP benefits to purchase any EBT-eligible products, but you’ll get an equal dollar amount discount to cover any Colorado-grown produce. You can buy $10 in bread, meat and milk and receive $10 to cover locally grown onions, berries, or other fruits or vegetables.
Certain Save-a-Lot Food Stores locations also participate in this program but it’s a little different. You’ll need to save your receipts when you shop here, because you’ll have to present your receipt on your next shopping trip to redeem your free bucks toward fresh produce. The receipt basically becomes the voucher. You have to use it within 60 days or it expires, though!
At Farmer’s Markets that have many vendors, it’s a little more complicated. You’ll need to swipe your EBT card at the Farmer’s Market information booth. You’ll be given vouchers or tokens that can be used at the market. You’ll get two types: one that can be used on any SNAP-eligible items and the free Double Up matching ones that can only be used on locally-grown produce.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs also offer Double Up benefits. Since these are subscription services, you’ll pay for one week’s box with your SNAP benefits and get the next week for free.
Where can I double my SNAP benefits?
If you’d like to give this a try, you’ll need to find a participating location near you. There are a lot of providers across the state. For the most up-to-date information, use this interactive map tool.
Nicole Thelin
Nicole is the owner and lead researcher for Low Income Relief. She has over 20 years of professional research and writing experience, and she has been solely dedicated to investigating low income topics for the last 10 years. Nicole started Low Income Relief after a personal experience with poverty. When her husband was medically discharged from the US Army, their family experienced tremendous financial hardship. Nicole was able to gather help from multiple community agencies and move into a nearby low income housing unit in just two weeks! Since then, Nicole has been dedicated to helping low income families in crisis. She regularly spends hundreds of hours combing through countless resources to make sure that Low Income Relief has the most comprehensive and complete resource directories on the internet today. Prior to starting Low Income Relief, Nicole worked as a novelist, journalist, ghostwriter and content creator. Her work has been featured in various print and online publications, including USA Today, The Daily Herald, The Chronicle and more. Her work has also been featured by Google for Publishers and other leading industry publications.