The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal nutrition program that gives benefits to low-income individuals and families, enabling them to purchase food at retailers nationwide. Though the specific benefits vary from state to state, in general, to be eligible, a household’s income must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line. For a family of three, that’s around $1,830 a month or less.

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While SNAP benefits provide much needed food assistance, inflation is driving up the cost of groceries and services exorbitantly right now, impacting folks on SNAP benefits more than the average household. Here we talk to some experts about how to make the most of your SNAP benefits.

Buy Seeds or Seedlings

One way to stretch your SNAP benefits is to use them to buy food-growing seeds or plants that produce food, suggests Gerrid Smith, Director of E-commerce of Joy Organics. “This is allowed under the program’s guidelines and has the ability to stretch your budget quite a little further than it would go in any other case. This is an excellent start toward establishing food sovereignty, and it has the potential to be the most lucrative investment option that is now accessible.”

Make a Shopping List

Shopping intentionally, rather than on impulse, by making a shopping list, “will allow you to buy only what you require and avoid overspending at the store,” says Ricardo Pina, a money expert and founder of The Modest Wallet. “To determine how much is in your basket, you may use the shopping list tool in Fresh EBT — adding prices of things as you add items to your cart — or you can use the calculator app on your phone.”

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Look for Specials on Meat

If your household includes a lot of meat as a staple, “Look for the manager’s specials on meat,” says Caleb Chen, a financial preparedness advocate at Am I Prepped? Additionally, he urges, “Avoid beef, buy pork and chicken. Specifically 10-pound bags of chicken quarters which have raised in price by [more than] 15% but are still well under $1 per pound around the country.”

Find Walmart’s Clearance Items

Chen says that Walmart, already a low-cost place to shop, “always has their clearance shelves located near the dairy section.”

Don’t Forget Costco

Costco may not be the first retailer you think about if you’re using SNAP benefits, but according to Chen, they take EBT and you can get discounts on food in bulk, saving money.