Bin Your Food Receipts? You're Missing Out on £60 a Year
How SnapMyEats works, and how much you can really earn
Most of us drop the receipt into a carrier bag, find it crumpled at the bottom a week later, and bin it without a second thought. Yet that receipt is worth a little money, because there are apps that will pay you for the information on it, and SnapMyEats is one of the better-known ones for food and drink.
It won't change your life, but if you're buying food anyway, and we all are, it turns a scrap of paper you'd throw away into a slow trickle of gift cards. Here's exactly how it works, what you can realistically earn, and the honest catches worth knowing before you download it.
Snap My Eats is a receipt scanning app built around your food and drink receipts. The idea is simple: every time you buy something to eat or drink, you keep the receipt and scan it into the app. It then asks a few quick questions: where you bought the food, how many people it was for, whether you ate in, took it away or ordered a delivery, and where it was eaten- at home, at work, in the car and so on.
The receipts can come from anywhere you've bought food or drink, whether that's a supermarket, a convenience store, a restaurant, or even a single packet of crisps from a petrol station. As long as it's something to eat or drink, it counts.
The app also accepts screenshots of online food orders, so a Domino's or a supermarket delivery receipt works too, as long as every detail is visible in the one image.
How much can you earn from SnapMyEats?
You earn £1 in reward credit for every 5 valid receipts you submit, up to a cap of £5 a month once you've scanned 25 receipts. That works out at £60 a year if you max it out each month, which is very achievable if you're scanning your everyday food shopping. Once your balance reaches £10, so usually every couple of months, you can redeem it from the app's reward centre.
There's a decent range of gift cards to choose from, including Amazon, Costa, Tesco, Greene King, Virgin and Google Play, and I always go for a £10 Amazon voucher, which I save up until there's something I actually want to buy. If you'd rather let it build, you can hold off and cash out at £20 or more instead.
There's a nice extra worth knowing about. If you submit 16 or more receipts in a month, you're automatically entered into a monthly prize draw to win one of five £100 Amazon vouchers, and every additional receipt beyond that earns you another entry. So even once you've hit your £5 cap for the month, there's still a reason to keep scanning.
The app accepts receipts dated within the last 7 days, and I use that rule to my advantage. Towards the end of a month, once I've maxed out my rewards, I keep hold of all my food receipts so that when the new month starts I can scan in anything from the previous 7 days. That gives me a real head start on the next month's 25, and it's not unusual to have a big chunk of them banked before the month's even properly begun.
What are the catches with SnapMyEats?
It's worth being honest about the app's quirks, because there are a few. You can only submit one photo per receipt, which sounds like a problem for a long receipt, a big Tesco shop or a double-sided Sainsbury's one, but there's a simple workaround: you only need to photograph the portion that shows the store name, the items, the prices, the total and the date, not every last line.
Receipts that only show a total won't count either, since the app needs to see the actual items you bought, not just the amount. Receipts take a couple of days to be checked, so it's worth holding onto them until they're confirmed rather than binning them straight away.
There's also no refer-a-friend bonus, which many rival apps do offer, and Android users tend to report a slightly less smooth experience than those on iPhone. None of that stops it being one of the more reliable payers, but it's fair to say it's not the most polished app on your phone.
For what it does, though, paying you for receipts you were going to throw away, those are quirks worth putting up with.
Is the Snap My Eats app worth using?
The app itself does the job, but it's fair to say it's showing its age. It feels a little old and creaky, and it could do with a refresh; the design isn't the slickest, and it can feel a touch clunky compared to newer apps.
The SnapMyEats website is much the same: very basic and giving the impression it could be doing a lot more than it does, and their Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2023, which doesn't inspire huge confidence at first glance, but none of this actually stops the app working.
It still pays out reliably, the receipts still get processed, and the rewards still land, so while it isn't the most modern or polished option out there, it remains one of the steadier and more dependable ones; sometimes a slightly dated app that just works and does little more is worth more than a flashy one that doesn't.
As with all these apps, the smart move is to scan the same receipt into several of them at once, so a single receipt earns you money several times over. It's worth signing up to a few; our guide to receipt scanning apps covers other apps worth running alongside this one.
On its own SnapMyEats caps at £5 a month, so treat it as a steady supplement rather than a main earner, but for a few seconds per receipt on food you were buying anyway, it earns its place on your phone.
Faq's
Is SnapMyEats legit?
Yes, SnapMyEats is a genuine, safe app to use. It's run by NPD Group (now part of Circana), a long-established market research company, and it pays out reliably in gift cards. It collects anonymised data on food and drink buying habits, which is how it funds the rewards.
How much can you earn with SnapMyEats?
You earn £1 in reward credit for every 5 valid receipts, capped at £5 a month once you've scanned 25 receipts. That works out at up to £60 a year if you max it out every month. It's pocket money rather than a real income, but it's money for receipts you'd otherwise bin.
How long does it take to get paid from SnapMyEats?
You need a balance of £10 before you can redeem, so realistically that's about every two months if you're hitting the monthly cap. Each receipt takes a couple of days to be checked and approved, so it's worth holding onto them until they're confirmed. Rewards then come as a gift card from a range of retailers.
Does SnapMyEats have a referral code or signup bonus? No, SnapMyEats doesn't currently offer a refer-a-friend scheme or a signup bonus, which is unusual compared to many rival apps. So there's no code to hunt for; you simply download it and start scanning. You earn purely from submitting your receipts.
Why was my SnapMyEats receipt rejected?
The usual reasons are a blurry photo, a receipt older than 7 days, or one that's missing the details the app needs: the store name, the items bought, the prices, the total, and the date. Credit card slips that only show a total, without the itemised purchases, aren't accepted. Make sure all those details are clear in a single photo.
What receipts does SnapMyEats accept?
Only food and drink receipts, but that covers a lot: supermarkets, restaurants, cafés, takeaways, and even a single coffee or chocolate bar. It also takes screenshots of online food orders, as long as every detail is visible in one image. Receipts must be uploaded within 7 days of purchase.
Can you get cash from SnapMyEats, or only vouchers?
Payment comes as gift cards rather than cash, with retailers like Amazon, Costa, Tesco and Google Play to choose from. There's no direct bank transfer, though some report a PayPal credit option. You can redeem once you reach £10, or save up and cash out at £20 or more if you'd rather.
Is SnapMyEats worth it?
For a few seconds per receipt, it's worth it if you buy food and drink regularly and are happy with modest, steady rewards rather than real income. The £5 monthly cap means it works best as a supplement alongside other receipt apps rather than on its own. Run it with a couple of others and the same receipt earns you money several times over.
