USDA Food Plans

A healthy diet can help individuals achieve and maintain good health and reduce their risk of chronic disease throughout all stages of life. Countless foods and beverages are available for purchase, ranging in nutrient density and price. As such, a healthy diet can be achieved at many cost levels, including on a limited budget.

USDA has produced food plans since 1894 to illustrate how a healthy diet can be achieved through nutritious meals and snacks at home at various costs. USDA Food Plans are made up of two components:

1. Market baskets defining weekly quantities of foods and beverages in their purchasable forms that, together, make up a healthy, practical diet for various age-sex groups.
2. Cost levels defining the dollar value of each market basket given average food prices.

USDA produces four food plans at successively higher cost levels: the Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans.

Federal law requires that the Thrifty Food Plan be based on current food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns, and dietary guidance. USDA last updated the cost levels and market baskets of the Thrifty Food Plan in 2021 and published cost adjustments to reflect higher food prices in Alaska and Hawaii in 2023. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires that the next reevaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan be no earlier than Oct. 1, 2027, and that future reevaluations are held cost-neutral.

The Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans cost levels were last set in 1983 and their respective market baskets were last reevaluated in 2007, maintaining the same inflation-adjusted costs as previous editions. USDA updates the cost levels of all four food plans monthly for food price inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

Thrifty Food Plan

Background

The Thrifty Food Plan outlines nutrient-dense foods and beverages, their amounts, and associated costs that can be purchased on a limited budget to support a healthy diet through nutritious meals and snacks at home. Federal law specifies that the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in June for a reference family of four (a man and woman 20 through 50 years of age, a child 6 through 8 years of age, and a child 9 through 11 years of age) serves as the basis for setting:

• Maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit allotments for the following federal fiscal year beginning each Oct. 1 (7 USC 2012(u)).
• Annual adjustments to block grant amounts for the Nutrition Assistance Program in Puerto Rico and American Samoa (7 USC 2028(a)(2)(A)(ii)).
• Annual adjustments to the dollar amount of commodities the Secretary of Agriculture has the authority to acquire through the Commodity Credit Corporation each fiscal year (7 USC 2036(a)(2)(E)).

The cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in November for the reference family also serves as the basis for updating SUN Bucks (Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer) benefit allotments for the following calendar year (42 USC 1762(b)(2)(A)(ii)).

Recent Reports

Alternative Approaches to Reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan

The Alternative Approaches to Reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan report explores different approaches to reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan. The current method for reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan uses a model that selects quantities of foods and beverages to represent a healthy, practical, cost-effective diet. As part of our commitment to continuous process improvement and evidence-based policy making, this externally-conducted report describes three potential revisions to that model as well as three alternative approaches, including the advantages, disadvantages, and expected level of effort of each based on input from external experts. The report does not include feasibility testing, which will be covered in a follow-up report.

Statewide Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimate for Hawaii

By law, the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan for Hawaii is based on the price of food in Honolulu. In December 2024, we issued a proposed rule that would revise regulations such that the cost would instead be based the price of food throughout the state of Hawaii rather than from Honolulu alone. We published the Statewide Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimate for Hawaii report alongside the proposed rule, providing details on the data and methodology used to calculate a Thrifty Food Plan cost estimate in this manner.

Measuring the Cost of a Thrifty Food Plan in Puerto Rico

In response to a Congressional Directive, USDA commissioned the Measuring the Cost of a Thrifty Food Plan in Puerto Rico study. The purpose of the study was to provide USDA with options for measuring the cost of a Thrifty Food Plan in Puerto Rico, where food benefits are currently provided through the Nutrition Assistance Program. To identify options, the study team conducted an environmental scan, convened an expert study group, conducted interviews with subject matter experts, and synthesized information across sources. The final options are described in the externally-conducted report, along with each option's advantages and disadvantages, as well as cost and timeline to implement.

Ongoing Projects

Implementing Alternative Approaches to Reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan

In 2024, we published the Alternative Approaches to Reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan report, which describes three potential alternative approaches and three potential revisions to the existing optimization model along with their advantages, disadvantages, and expected level of effort for implementation. In fiscal year 2024, FNS commissioned a follow-on study that will attempt to implement the alternatives raised in the 2024 report in a series of test cases to provide detailed information on the feasibility of each option. This information on the feasibility of each approach will be used to determine which, if any, of the alternative approaches can be incorporated into future Thrifty Food Plan reevaluations.

Linking USDA Nutrition Data to Retail and Household Food Scanner Data

Thrifty Food Plan reevaluations are required by federal law to be based on current food prices. We are collaborating with the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) on a project to estimate current prices for foods and beverages reported in What We Eat in America, the dietary component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (WWEIA NHANES) by building on the existing Purchase to Plate ERS data product. This project will provide national average prices for use in the next Thrifty Food Plan reevaluation.

Household Food Waste in the United States: An Evidence Scan

To inform future reevaluations of the Thrifty Food Plan, we identified a need to examine the evidence on household food waste in the United States. The Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR) team was tasked with conducting an evidence scan on this topic. A NESR evidence scan is an exploratory evidence description project in which systematic methods are used to search for and describe the volume and characteristics of evidence available on a nutrition question or topic of public health importance.
The following scientific questions have been identified for this evidence scan:

1. What evidence has been published that describes how much food is wasted at home?
2. What evidence has been published that describes factors associated with food wasted at home?

Classifying and Measuring Household Food Waste

The USDA Food Plans optimization model has included food waste adjustments since at least the 1962 creation of the Family Food Plans to account for edible food that is purchased but not consumed. To inform future reevaluations of the USDA Food Plans, we have commissioned a study to develop and express food waste estimates by category and source in percentage terms and to report nationally representative estimates of the food-at-home waste distribution. The study will also report how these measures of food waste vary by relevant household characteristics and the extent to which households adhere to best practices in minimizing household food waste. Finally, the study will identify the minimum level of food waste by food category and source that can be observed in a sample of four person households, or an alternative estimate of the lowest amount of food waste that could reasonably be expected in a four-person household.

Food Price Data Collection in the Non-Contiguous States and U.S. Territories

We have commissioned a study to collect new, representative food price data in Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Territories. Having access to high quality food price data will support us in tailoring research, policy, and consumer education efforts to meet local needs and advance nutrition security in these places.

Convenience and Variety of Foods and Beverages in the Thrifty Food Plan Market Baskets

To inform future reevaluations of the USDA Food Plans, we have commissioned a study to evaluate approaches for defining and measuring the level of convenience and amount of variety in the Thrifty Food Plan market basket. The study will also consider how future communications could be strengthened to promote clarity and transparency around the Thrifty Food Plan market basket’s level of convenience and amount of variety.

Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans

The Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans outline nutrient-dense foods and beverages, their amounts, and associated costs that can be purchased on three successively higher budgets, each supporting a healthy diet through nutritious meals and snacks at home.

• The Low-Cost Food Plan represents food expenditures in the second from the bottom quartile of food spending.
• The Moderate-Cost Food Plan represents food expenditures in the second from the top quartile of food spending.
• The Liberal Food Plan represents food expenditures in the top quartile of food spending.

These food plans are used by various federal and state agencies and the court system for a variety of purposes. For example, the cost of the Liberal Food Plan in October for an adult man age 20 through 50 is used by the Department of Defense in updating the Basic Allowance for Subsistence for military personnel in the following calendar year (37 USC 402(b)(B)).

The market baskets for these food plans are based on dietary standards, food composition, consumption data, and food prices current at the time of publication. The same model used to calculate the Thrifty Food Plan, 2006, was used to calculate these food plans, with different cost levels and different assumptions regarding food waste.

Questions? For technical inquiries, contact: FNS.FoodPlans@usda.gov.