Just wanted to add from my experience - I've successfully used EBT for pre-ordered custom cakes at Costco multiple times! The key thing that helped me was calling ahead and speaking to someone in the bakery department before placing my order. I explained I'd be paying with EBT and asked if there would be any issues. They actually appreciated the heads up and made a note on my order. When I went to pick up, the process was super smooth because they were already prepared for the EBT payment. Also, their custom cakes are such good quality for the price - your daughter is going to love it!

I work at a grocery store and deal with EBT transactions daily. Just wanted to confirm what others have said - pre-ordered bakery cakes are definitely EBT eligible! The main thing is that it's a cold food item for home consumption. I've processed tons of these transactions and never had an issue. The confusion usually comes from cashiers mixing up the rules for hot prepared foods (like rotisserie chicken or food court items) with cold bakery items. If you do run into any problems, just politely ask them to check with their manager or reference that cold bakery goods are SNAP eligible under federal guidelines. Hope your daughter has an amazing birthday!

This is exactly why I wish they would send out notifications when they do system updates that might affect our cards! I've been on CalFresh for 3 years and this kind of random card issue has happened to me twice. It's so stressful when you're at the checkout with your kids and your card gets declined for no reason. Really glad the magnetic strip workaround helped you get groceries right away - that's such a useful tip that more people should know about. Definitely going to remember to ask about system updates if this happens to me again. Hope your chip reactivation goes smoothly!

Wow, what a rollercoaster! I'm so glad you got it figured out and that the magnetic strip trick worked to get you groceries right away. This whole thread has been incredibly helpful - I had no idea about system updates causing card issues like this. I'm bookmarking this post because I have a feeling this April 2025 system update is going to affect more people. It's really frustrating that they don't notify us when these updates happen, especially when it can leave families unable to buy food. Thank you for sharing the solution about calling your county worker and mentioning the system update specifically - that's going to save other people a lot of time and stress. Hope your chip reactivation goes smoothly and you don't have any more issues!

Just wanted to add that you can also use the SNAP Retailer Locator on the USDA website to find stores in your area that are authorized to accept EBT and have better track records with properly coding items. Some smaller discount stores like Big Lots are newer to accepting EBT and their systems aren't always updated correctly. Also, if you're shopping on a tight budget, consider downloading store apps before you shop - some will show EBT eligibility right in the app so you can plan your purchases ahead of time. Safeway and Lucky's apps do this pretty well in California. One last tip: if you're ever unsure about an item, you can ask the cashier to ring it up separately first to test if it's EBT eligible before adding your other items. Saves the embarrassment of finding out at the end!

I've had similar issues at Big Lots and other discount stores! One thing that really helped me was learning to look for the actual food category codes on items. If you look closely at the barcode area on packaging, sometimes there are tiny numbers that indicate the product category - grocery stores use these to determine EBT eligibility automatically. Also, I've noticed that Big Lots sometimes carries "club store" sized items or bulk packaging that can be coded differently than regular grocery store versions of the same products. The protein bars you mentioned are definitely tricky - even regular granola bars can be non-eligible if they're marketed as "energy" or "performance" bars instead of just snacks. For future reference, Target and Walmart tend to have much more reliable EBT systems if you need to shop at discount retailers. Their POS systems are better at catching eligible items correctly.

my sister works for the school district lunch program and she said they started the new system cuz of budget issues but they didnt have time to update all the computer systems so theyre doing partial payments til they fix everything

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences! This has been so helpful. I was panicking thinking we lost eligibility somehow. Based on what everyone's saying, it sounds like this is just the new "split deposit" system they're using. I'll keep checking my balance over the next week for the additional deposits. It's frustrating they didn't send clearer communication about these changes - I never got any notice about the new attendance-based calculations or the split payments. For other parents dealing with this, it seems like the key takeaways are: 1) Check your balance multiple times throughout the month, 2) Absences now reduce benefits by about $4.50/day, and 3) The total monthly amount did increase to $135 if your child has perfect attendance. Really appreciate this community for helping figure this out when the official channels are so hard to reach!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! My case disappeared from BenefitsCal yesterday and my benefits are supposed to reload on the 13th. I was getting really worried until I read through all these comments - it's so helpful to know this is a widespread issue with the online system and not necessarily a problem with our actual cases. I'm going to try calling the EBT customer service line to check my balance instead of relying on the website. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, especially @Sunny Wang for that update about benefits loading despite the case not showing online. This gives me hope that everything will work out normally!

I'm new to CalFresh and this is my first time experiencing this issue - my case also disappeared from BenefitsCal yesterday and I was absolutely terrified that I did something wrong! Reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly reassuring. It's amazing how a simple website glitch can cause so much panic when you're relying on these benefits. I'm supposed to get my benefits on the 16th and was planning to spend the weekend worrying, but now I feel much more confident that it's just a technical issue. Thank you all for creating such a supportive community where newcomers like me can learn from your experiences. I'll check my EBT balance through the phone system instead of stressing about the website!