“More Food on the Table”: Participants’ Experiences With Higher SNAP Benefits in California

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or CalFresh in California) began receiving emergency allotments (EAs), which boosted the value of their monthly benefits for food. This temporary but substantial increase in benefits presented a unique opportunity to qualitatively examine the impact of higher benefits on CalFresh participants’ lives compared to when EAs ended and benefits returned to their regular levels. This research brief aims to share CalFresh participants’ descriptions—in their own words—of what the experiences looked and felt like. Methods: In the summer of 2023, as part of a more extensive, mixed-methods study, researchers at the California Association of Food Banks (CAFB) conducted in-depth interviews with 21 CalFresh recipients (12 in English, eight in Spanish and one in Chinese) to retrospectively document how they had used their higher benefits, and how EAs had affected their food intake, health, and overall well-being. We recorded, de-identified, and transcribed interviews, analyzed transcripts using an open coding process, and selected quotes representative of the main themes that emerged. Results: Consistent with the literature on SNAP benefit adequacy, CalFresh recipients reported that having higher benefits improved their food and nutrition security, financial stability, and other markers of well-being. Specifically, CalFresh recipients used the higher benefits to purchase more food and more nutritious foods, maintain financial stability during income disruption, and reallocate resources toward other essential expenses to help improve their overall financial well-being. Conclusion: Our research suggests that CalFresh recipients who received more benefits through EAs improved their health and financial stability. Participant experiences add to our understanding of how SNAP touches lives and strengthen the rationale for protecting, rather than restricting, access to SNAP for households in need.