I only know about california and for california this whole article is incorrect we can purchase anything we want from jack on the box as long as we are on the hot meals program which means you are homeless without a place to cook or store perishables so you are allowed to purchase cooked food from anywhere that accepts ebt .. as far as the physical card u always need it if purchasing in person but online orders like walmart amazon fresh or instacart just store it in the app for nal future purchases and u must always know your pin