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ESA SNAP Policy Manual 18 Chapter 2 Chapter 2. Household Composition To create a SNAP household and determine who is nonfinancially eligible for SNAP, follow this process:  Start with everyone who lives together.  Determine who purchases and prepares food together.  Determine relationship status.  Apply nonfinancial eligibility requirements to determine who is an eligible or excluded member. No one can be an eligible member of two or more SNAP households in any month, except residents of shelters for battered individuals when the battered individual was a member of the same household as the person who abused them. 2.1 Purchase and Prepare Together In general, people who purchase and prepare food together must be in the same household. Individuals disqualified from participating in SNAP for failing to meet a financial or nonfinancial eligibility requirement are not eligible for SNAP benefits even if they are household members. The phrase “purchase and prepare food together” describes people who normally share food in common. People normally share food in common if they do one of the following:  They each share in the cost of purchasing the food.  They share in preparing food, no matter who paid for it.  They eat from the same food supply, no matter who paid for it. 2.2 Relationships 2.2.1 Mandatory Household Members Some individuals who live together must be included in the same SNAP household even if they do not purchase and prepare food together. The relationships of the people who live together affect whether they must be included or excluded from the household. This applies to the following: Return