What can I buy with EBT in Arkansas
In Arkansas, food stamps (SNAP) can buy groceries you take home, including fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy, and bread. They cannot buy alcohol, tobacco, hot prepared food, or household supplies. Any soda or candy date on this page is copied from the USDA waiver table. If that table does not list the state, we do not invent a ban.
Simple answer
USDA lists a food waiver with a target date of July 1, 2026.
Arkansas: USDA lists a target date of July 1, 2026. The summary says the waiver restricts Soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50 percent natural juice, energy drinks, unhealthy drinks, and candy.
Soda and candy
Arkansas: USDA lists a target date of July 1, 2026. The summary says the waiver restricts Soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50 percent natural juice, energy drinks, unhealthy drinks, and candy.
FNA SNAP food restriction waivers, updated 2026-10-13. Last checked 2026-10-16.
Restaurant meals
USDA's Restaurant Meals Program page does not list Arkansas. Prepared hot food is not a SNAP item there, unless a later approval says otherwise. We did not find one on October 16, 2026.
To use it, everyone in the SNAP home must be 60 or older, disabled, homeless, or the spouse of someone who qualifies. Source: the USDA Restaurant Meals Program page, last checked 2026-10-16.
Where to use the card
USDA publishes a live store map. We did not copy the stores onto this page. The downloadable file is a history file for 2005 through 2025, so it is not a live nearby list.
SNAP Retailer Locator, updated 2026-09-11.
Last checked: October 16, 2026
Sources
- FNA What Can SNAP Buy Page updated 2025-06-04.
- FNA SNAP food restriction waivers Page updated 2026-10-13.
- FNA SNAP Retailer Locator Page updated 2026-09-11. We link the map and do not copy the store list.
What changed
- October 13, 2026. FNS updated the food-restriction waiver table. Soda and candy limits on these pages come only from that table.
- September 11, 2026. FNS updated the retailer locator page. The downloadable file is a history file, so the live map is the one we link.
- June 4, 2025. FNS updated the eligible-foods page.