The excitement of spring is in full swing after a long winter, and summer is right around the corner! This season brings a bounty of Vermont-grown food making it easy to eat local. Often, you can use your 3SquaresVT benefits to purchase local food and get additional discounts and free coupons. Here are five ways to stretch your food budget and eat local.

Get Seeds and Seedlings to Eat Local, From Your Garden!

You can purchase vegetable, fruit, and herb seed packets and seedlings with your 3SquaresVT benefits. Make sure to find a seed/seedling retailer that accepts 3SquaresVT; most grocery stores do, and they often sell seeds and seedlings. Sometimes, you can also find free seeds available at your local library!

Gardening comes in all shapes and sizes— you can plant in a pot on your windowsill or deck, build raised beds in a yard, plant straight into the ground, or find a community garden space. Vermont is home to a network of more than 600 community-based gardens. The Vermont Garden Network has a garden directory you can use to search for a garden near you.

Discounts at Your Local Co-op

You can shop for local food at a Coop and can get extra discounts, too. Many coops offer free or affordable memberships and discounts on food when you shop with 3SquaresVT benefits. Especially during the summer, coops may stock lots of local produce and protein (dairy, meat, beans) from farms and food producers in Vermont. City Market in Burlington, Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, Middlebury Natural Foods, Putney Food Coop, and Brattleboro Food Coop are some of the  coops in Vermont that offer discounts.

Eat Local with Farmers Market Coupons

Farm to Family—you can shop at many Vermont farmers markets with Farm to Family coupons. These coupons are worth $6 each and come in a free booklet of at least five coupons. You can apply for these coupons through WIC (Women, Infants and Children) or at a local Community Action Agency, both of which provide pop-up opportunities to apply for and pick-up coupons. Once you get your coupons, you can use them at participating farmers markets.

Crop Cash—you can find Crop Cash coupons at participating farmers markets in Vermont. Crop Cash allows you to multiply your 3SquaresVT benefits at farmers markets. In summer 2025, when you swipe your EBT card (the plastic card that benefits come on) at the market, you can get up to $20 in free Crop Cash coupons and also up to $10 in Crop Cash Plus. You can use Crop Cash coupons to buy fruits, vegetables, herbs, and plant seedlings at the market. You can use Crop Cash Plus coupons to buy any SNAP-eligible food item at the market.

Farm Stand Coupons

You can also get free coupons to eat local at some farm stands in Vermont—this program is called Farm Stand Match. When you swipe your EBT card at participating farmstands, you will receive additional coupons to shop at the farmstand with.

CSA Discounts

Some farms offer significant discounts on their CSA farm shares. A CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture) is a share of vegetables that you pick up from a farm on a set schedule. Typically, CSAs offer weekly pickup for around 20 weeks each summer. You can even get a CSA share in the winter! The application for a discount on a summer share has closed, but the application for a discounted winter share opens on August 1—save the date so you are sure to apply in time to get a discounted CSA in the future!

You can contact our team at Vermont Foodbank with questions about any of these programs or for help applying for 3SquaresVT benefits. Call us at (855) 855-6181, text VFBCHAT to 61222, or email 3svt@vtfoodbank.org.