Does Dollar Tree Take EBT in 2024? (All You Need To Know)

Dollar Tree has over 15,000 stores across the country, so there’s bound to be a store in your neighborhood or within a short traveling distance. Which is great as long as you can actually spend your food stamps at your local store. So, does Dollar Tree take EBT?

If you’ve recently been approved for SNAP benefits, you’re probably wondering which stores take EBT cards. As you know, all supermarkets take EBT, but what’s the deal at dollar stores like Dollar Tree?

In this article, we’ll go over what you need to know about paying for your groceries with your EBT card at Dollar Tree, and we’ll show you a quick price comparison so you can figure out if shopping at Dollar Tree is the best way to use your EBT budget.

Does Dollar Tree Take EBT in 2024?

Yes, they do. Dollar Tree is on the list of retailers approved to take EBT by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). At Dollar Tree, you can use EBT to purchase food stamp-eligible food and drink items. You can also spend TANF benefits at Dollar Tree if you’re eligible for that assistance.

EBT doesn’t allow you to buy everything at a Dollar Tree store, though. Ineligible Items will have to be paid for using cash, check, credit card, or debit card.

Does Dollar Tree Take EBT For Online Orders?

Dollar Tree offers online shopping at DollarTree.com. You can place an order for home delivery or for pickup at your preferred Dollar Tree store.

However, you can’t pay for those orders with your EBT card.

The Dollar Tree website lists the following payment methods you can use for online orders:

Visa credit and debit cards
Mastercard credit and debit cards
American Express
Discover
PayPal
PayPal Credit

What Items Can You Buy At Dollar Tree With EBT?

If you’re in receipt of the basic level of food stamp assistance, then you can only buy food, certain drinks, and food-producing plants and seeds.

Everything in the grocery aisle at Dollar Tree should be eligible for food stamps. You can buy bread, cereal, rice and pasta, canned vegetables, fruit, frozen food, milk, yogurt, butter, eggs, fresh meat, etc.

You can also buy fruit juices and sodas, bottled water, tea, coffee, and smoothies.

Snacks are allowed too, so if your budget can stretch to cookies, chocolate, candy, gum, chips, and nuts, then you can pick up whatever you fancy.

Food-producing plants and seeds are also an option. And if you have some growing space, producing some of your own food is a great way to stretch your food budget.

For example, if you buy a head of lettuce at the supermarket, you’ll pay around $1.60 – $2.00 for one lettuce. Alternatively, you can buy a packet of lettuce seed for that price, and grow hundreds of lettuces to eat all year round. And lettuce is very easy to grow.

The same goes for veggies like kale or swiss chard.

Obviously, you can’t do much if you live in an apartment. But if you’ve got some balcony space, a few bags of potting soil will provide enough growing space for a surprising amount of food.

Must Read: Does Dollar Tree Take Food Stamps?

What Items Can’t You Buy At Dollar Tree With EBT?

Because the SNAP program only covers food and drink, you can’t use your basic EBT allowance to purchase non-food items like toilet paper, diapers, laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste, sanitary products, or shampoo.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy pet food either.

Alcoholic drinks are also off-limits, along with some energy drinks. For an energy drink to be eligible for food stamps it must have a nutrition panel on the label. If the drink has a supplement panel, then you can’t buy it with food stamps.

This means that you can buy Red Bull or Monster energy drinks, but not Jump Start Energy Shots or FITAID Recovery Blend.

Another limitation imposed on SNAP recipients is the inability to purchase food that is hot at the point of sale. This isn’t a concern at Dollar Tree because they don’t sell hot food, but if you plan to shop at a supermarket, then you can’t buy items like rotisserie chicken or cooked pizza.

Unsurprisingly, you can’t purchase cigarettes or tobacco with EBT because these are not food items, but you can’t buy vitamins either, and they definitely fall under the nutritious category. However, because they carry a supplement panel on the label instead of a nutrition panel, you can’t buy them.

Spending TANF Benefits At Dollar Tree

TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It’s a benefit for low-income families with children, and for pregnant women.

If you’ve been approved for TANF, then you’ll be able to use the TANF allowance on your EBT card to purchase non-food items at Dollar Tree.

With TANF you can buy toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, shampoo, pet food, clothing items, and more.

If an item in your shopping cart isn’t covered by TANF, then you’ll be asked to provide an alternative payment method for that item.

Does Dollar Tree Take WIC?

WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The purpose of WIC is to give low-income individuals access to nutritious food.

To participate in the WIC program, retailers must sell certain categories of food and keep their stocks of those foods at or over the minimum levels specified by the program.

Dollar stores can’t guarantee to stock these minimum levels because their product lines frequently vary. And because they don’t restock products as regularly as large supermarkets, they are often out of stock on certain items.

So that means that they aren’t eligible to participate in the WIC program.

What Other Payment Methods Does Dollar Tree Accept?

Dollar Tree accepts cash, checks, credit cards, and debit cards.

If your order total is more than the available funds on your EBT card, then you’ll need to use another form of payment to cover the rest.

When you purchase non-EBT-eligible items, you’ll also need another form of payment.

In both cases, swipe your EBT card first, then use another payment method to pay the rest of the bill.

Does Dollar Tree Accept Coupons?

Yes. If you’ve got coupons, you’ll be able to use them to get a discount on your grocery bill at Dollar Tree, but there are some limitations.

Customers can only use one manufacturer’s coupon per item purchased. So if you had two 30-cent discount coupons for a box of cornflakes, and you purchased one box of cornflakes, you could only use one of those coupons to get 30 cents off the price. If you purchased two boxes, you could use both coupons.

You’re limited to 4 coupons per manufacturer, per day. If you had 6 coupons for that same cereal and wanted to buy 6 boxes, you could only use 4 of the coupons.

You’ll need to check your coupons carefully to make sure that you’re buying the exact size and variety specified on the coupon.

If the coupon has a higher value than the price of the item at Dollar Tree, the remainder of the coupon amount won’t be deducted from your order total.

Is Dollar Tree Still Good Value?

We’ve seen some horrible food price inflation recently, but Dollar Tree has inflated its prices at over twice the official rate of inflation.

The chain announced an across-the-board price increase in September 2021, sweeping away the $1 pricing the store was known for and bumping up the cost of every item to $1.25.

So, is Dollar Tree still good value for money?

Let’s compare some prices on pantry staples at Dollar Tree and see how they compare to Dollar General and Walmart.

Tuna Chunks 5 ounces

Dollar Tree $1.25
Dollar General $1
Walmart $0.78

Canned Sweetcorn 15 ounces

Dollar Tree $1.25
Dollar General $0.85
Walmart $0.58

Peanut Butter 40 ounces

Dollar Tree ($1.25 per 10-ounce jar) $5
Dollar General $3.95
Walmart $3.64

Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce 24 ounces

Dollar Tree $1.25
Dollar General $1.45
Walmart $1.18

Whole Milk (per gallon)

Dollar Tree $5
Dollar General $4.35
Walmart $3.76

Canned Green Beans 14.5 ounces

Dollar Tree $1.25
Dollar General $0.85
Walmart $0.58

All Purpose Flour (per pound)

Dollar Tree $0.62
Dollar General $ 0.50
Walmart $0.42

White Rice 32 ounces

Dollar Tree $1.25
Dollar General $1.50
Walmart $1.46
Dollar Tree Total = $16.87
Dollar General Total = $14.45
Walmart Total = $12.40

As you can see, Dollar General is cheaper than Dollar Tree saving you $2.42. But Walmart is the clear winner saving you $4.47.

If you can get to a Walmart, on those 8 items alone purchased every week, you would save $232 a year. And across your entire grocery bill, you’ll save much more compared to dollar store prices, which means that your EBT budget will buy you more food.

Dollar stores are convenient because they’re usually within walking distance in most neighborhoods, which is an essential consideration if you don’t have transport. But you’re paying a high price for that convenience.

Stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General are often concentrated in low-income areas, and far from offering good value to shoppers who have less money to spend, they charge more than regular supermarkets or big box stores.

Luckily, Walmart now accepts EBT for online deliveries. You’ll need to pay the delivery charge using an alternative payment method, but even so, your EBT budget will go further at Walmart than it will at Dollar Tree. Plus, you’ll have lots more choices when it comes to varieties, brands, and product sizes.

If you do a big shop at Walmart once or twice a month, you’ll save on the delivery fees. Delivery costs between $8 and $10. But if you purchase a Walmart Plus membership for $98 (annual purchase price), you can get your grocery orders delivered every week for ‘free’.

Quick Recap

You can use your EBT card to purchase food, some drinks, food plants, and vegetable seeds at Dollar Tree.

You won’t be able to purchase personal care items, household cleaning supplies, pet foods, alcoholic drinks, some energy drinks, tobacco products, or vitamin supplements.

If you’re in receipt of TANF as well as food stamps, then you can use your TANF benefits to purchase most items that Dollar Tree stocks.

Dollar Tree is not an approved vendor for the WIC program, so you can’t spend WIC benefits at Dollar Tree.

You’ll probably find that Dollar General will save you money compared to Dollar Tree, and as a rule, most supermarkets and big box stores are a better value than dollar stores (if you can get to them).

Does Dollar Tree Take EBT?