Step 1 (optional): Take the pre-screening test here.
Step 2: Apply by printing out an application here.
Step 3: Mail, fax, or deliver your application to your county’s human services agency.
Note: Click here to find your local agency.
For assistance, please call: 1-800-657-3698
Applying For Minnesota Food Stamps
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was designed to help support families that do not have the money to pay for their food month after month. SNAP supplied aid to over 40 million Americans in 2010.
Anyone in Minnesota can apply for food stamps, regardless of their background, ethnicity, sex, or faith. How much a person receives in assistance from SNAP depends on a few factors, but in the year 2009, the average household in Minnesota received $227 each month.
To be accepted into the food stamp program in Minnesota, you have to meet certain financial as well as situational requirements. Also, there are several documents an applicant will need throughout the food stamps application and interview process.
Minnesota Requirements
In most instances, if you are under 60 years old, it is a requirement for you to not have any more than $2,000 in assets. If a person in your home, or you, are at least 60 years old, then the limit is brought up to $3,000. Assistance from TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program), or SSI (Supplemental Security Income), do not count as assets when applying for food stamps. Resources that do count towards your total assets include cash, money saved in a bank account and in some cases a vehicle.
There is also an income limit, which depends on the number of persons residing in your home when that you apply for food stamps.
Your expenses are also taken into account when you request food stamps. If you are paying for child or elderly care, rent, mortgage, or utilities; all of those costs will be taken into account. Some medical expenses will also be considered under certain instances.
Those who pass the requirements and have their application approved to begin receiving SNAP benefits, will be sent an EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card. The EBT card can be used like a debit card to buy food at particular grocery stores, convenience stores, or possibly farmer markets.
When Will My Food Stamps Arrive Every Month?
The date that food stamp benefits become available on each account varies depending on the last digit of your food stamp case number. Your case number should be displayed on all correspondence you receive from your Department of Human Services office. If you are unable to locate your case number, please call for (888)997-2227 for assistance. Once you know the last digit of your case number, you can figure out which day of the month your benefits will become available. This date will not change for the entire period that you receive food stamps.
If the last digit is:
1=11th of the month
2=12th of the month
3=13th of the month
4=4th of the month
5=5th of the month
6=6th of the month
7=7th of the month
8=8th of the month
9=9th of the month
0=10th of the month
To avoid long lines and crowded grocery stores, it is usually wise to save your major grocery shopping until after the 13th in Minnesota because all of the food stamp users will be out buy food on these days. It can be hard to wait so long however if you get your benefits on the 4th.