$1 Million Dollars in Good Food Bucks Redemptions!

Zallie Family ShopRite at Lawnside NJ. Photo courtesy of Zallie Family Foundation.

The Good Food Bucks program has hit a significant milestone! This year the program has officially reached over $1 million dollars of Good Food Bucks redemptions for fresh fruits and vegetables! This includes redemptions at participating farmers markets, farm stands, grocery stores and corner stores in New Jersey. The Good Food Bucks program is becoming a staple food affordability program in our state and continues to bridge the gap between farmers and communities that don't have equitable access to fresh produce. 

The purpose of Good Food Bucks is to address food inequity in our state by boosting the spending power of SNAP shoppers so that they can buy more fresh fruits and vegetables at participating markets, farm stands and grocery stores. The Good Food Bucks program also supports New Jersey farmers by boosting their sales, income and customer base. This helps make our state's food system more resilient, which is extremely important to our organization. 

This update shows how effective the program has been and how important it is to families and farmers in New Jersey. 

According to shopper surveys, customers who use the Good Food Bucks program for at least 6 months have higher rates of food security and stretched their budget farther than those who didn’t. Shoppers who used the program for at least 6 months were also 12% more likely to find that they were able to afford a balanced meal. The benefits of the program don’t just end with shoppers. Partners who were in the program for at least a year saw their SNAP sales increase by an average of 130% and their customer base increase by 136%. The Good Food Bucks program not only improves the lives of shoppers who use SNAP but for New Jersey farmers as well. 

City Green is so grateful for the success the Good Food Bucks program has had over time, and hope to see it continue to grow in the future. We’d like to thank the Good Food Bucks partners, our donors, and the shoppers who have used the program over the years. 

​​City Green's Good Food Bucks program is New Jersey's first and largest statewide SNAP nutrition incentive program for fruits and vegetables at farmers markets, grocery stores, and other fresh-food retailers. For every $1 a customer spends with their SNAP/EBT Card at participating locations, they receive a Good Food Bucks coupon or discount for fresh produce purchases. SNAP customers receive DOUBLE the amount of fruits and vegetables! Check out City Green’s list of participating locations to find out which markets offer Good Food Bucks near you!

This work is supported by the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, project award no. 2024-70415-43708, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The Good Food Bucks program is also supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Tepper Foundation, New Jersey Food Security Initiative, and Albertsons Companies Foundation.