Basic Food is the Food Stamp program (SNAP) for the state of Washington. Low-income families will receive benefits through the program so that they can buy food and meet their basic nutrition needs. The program considers income and household size along with some other factors while determining your eligibility for the program.

Once you start receiving food stamp assistance, you'll be able to buy number of food items including breads and cereals, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, fish, poultry products, and seeds and plants for producing food for household.

You will not be allowed to by hot foods with cash assistance you get through Washington Food Basic/SNAP. Exchanging food stamp benefits for cash is not permitted. Similarly, you can't buy any foods that can be consumed in the store or restaurant. Moreover, you can't buy vitamins, medicines, beer, liquor, wine, and tobacco using Basic Food benefits.

Families and individuals with low-income and high expenses will easily qualify for Basic Food. However, your assets, number of adults and children living in the household will also be considered while determining your eligibility for the program.

You will receive an EBT Quest Card when you become a program beneficiary. You can use your Quest Card in any state to buy permitted food items. The card is for you to use and if you want someone else to use it for you, you will have to ask for an additional EBT card.

If you qualify for food stamps, you may receive additional benefits such as qualification for low-cost phone services and free enrollment in school meals for school-going children. Families receiving benefits through SNAP will automatically qualify the income eligibility criteria for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

SNAP also has an education program for Washington. The program is called SNAP-Ed and the Washington State University Nutrition Education Program runs it. You can receive helpful material related to nutrition basics, healthy cooking, and cost-effecting food shopping.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to receive food stamp benefits through Washington Basic Food program, you'll have to meet various qualification requirements, such as:

• You must be a resident of state of Washington.
• You must be a U.S citizen or a lawfully admitted resident who meets residency requirements. Some non-citizens can also qualify to receive Basic Food benefits.
• Your household income must meet income limits set for the program i.e. up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
• Your resources should be under $2001, including checking and savings accounts.
• If a household is responsible for person aged above 60 or disabled, permitted resources can be up to $3001.

You household income will be monthly earned and unearned income. Unearned income includes cash benefits you receive through SSI, retirements etc.

The program will also consider your expenses in order to determine your eligibility for the program. Expenses such as rent and payments for child care will affect your eligibility for Basic Food program.

You can use the Benefit Estimator to get an idea about the monthly benefits you qualify to receive.

Work and Training Requirements

When you apply for Washington Food Stamps/Basic Food, you will have to agree to participate in work and training program. If you meet the following conditions, then you'll have to register for work.

• You are an adult physically able to work
• You are between 18 and 49 years of age
• You are without dependents

You may also have to enroll in employment and training program if you are between 16 and 59 years of age and you have dependents. You may be exempted from participating in employment and training activities if:

• You are physically or mentally disabled
• You are responsible for a child under 6 years of age

Food Stamps Application Instructions

When applying for Washington Food Stamps/SNAP, you'll need to provide information about your income, assets, utilities, childcare costs, housing costs, and you citizenship status. You will be required to provide your Social Security Number, date of birth, and name in order to complete the application. Therefore, be sure to have all this information with you when applying for the program. Here is how you can apply for the program.

Online Application

You can apply online for Washington Basic Food/SNAP through Washington Connection website. If you want to fill the application in a language other than English, you will find links to Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Somali, Russian, and Vietnamese at the bottom. If you are looking for a language other than these, you can click here to see all the languages available.

You'll need to create an account in order to resume your application if you are planning to fill it in more than one session. Your data entered on each page will be saved for 90 days. However, if you don't have an account, you can click �Save and Finish Later' anytime and follow instructions to create an account. You will be able to come back to your application at any time during 90 days once you've created your account.

Mail Application

You can apply for Washington Basic Food through mail. You will need to download this application and complete it. You will find mailing instructions on the application forms.

The application form you're downloading is in PDF format. Make sure you have Adobe Reader or another PDF file viewing program in order to read/print the file.

Apply in Person

You can apply in person for Washington Basic Food Stamps/SNAP benefits by simply visiting your local SNAP administrating agency. You can find a SNAP agency office near you using this Office Locator tool. For more information on program and its application process, you can call 1 (800) 737-0617 from Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm.