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:
- 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.
- 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. USDA updated the cost levels and market baskets of the Thrifty Food Plan in 2021 and published cost adjustments to reflect food prices in Alaska and Hawaii in 2023. 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. USDA updates the cost levels of the 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 twenty through fifty, a child six through eight, and a child nine through eleven years of age) serves as the basis for setting maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit allotments in the following federal fiscal year beginning each October 1 and that the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in November serves as the basis for updating Summer EBT benefit allotments in the following calendar year. Federal law requires that USDA reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan every five years based on current food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns, and dietary guidance.
Recent Developments
2021 Thrifty Food Plan Reevaluation
USDA reevaluated the Thrifty Food Plan in 2021 to reflect updated data on food prices, food composition, and consumption patterns, and current dietary guidance in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. USDA took a careful and considered approach, using the same underlying mathematical model used in previous reviews and only making changes if there was clear and convincing evidence to do so. The methods used to reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan were peer reviewed by subject matter experts from other USDA agencies. The Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 replaces the Thrifty Food Plan, 2006 and is the first in a series of planned regular updates.
Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii
While the Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 reflects national average food prices and applies to the contiguous 48 states and DC, residents of Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories may face substantially different food prices. By law, separate cost adjustments are made in the Thrifty Food Plan to account for food prices in Alaska and Hawaii. In 2023, USDA updated these cost adjustments in the Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii report. Information on FNS implementation of the updated Thrifty Food Plan cost estimates in Alaska and Hawaii can be found, beginning with Fiscal Year 2024, in the annual memo from FNS providing cost-of-living adjustments to SNAP maximum allotments, income eligibility standards, and deductions.
Measuring the Cost of a Thrifty Food Plan in Puerto Rico
In response to a Congressional Directive, USDA also 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 report, along with each option's advantages and disadvantages, as well as cost and timeline to implement.
Ongoing Projects
Projects Initiated in FY 2025:
2026 Thrifty Food Plan Reevaluation
As stipulated in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (PL 115–334, the 2018 Farm Bill), USDA must reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan every 5 years. Since the first reevaluation under this new requirement was published in 2021, the next reevaluation is anticipated in 2026. The Thrifty Food Plan 2026 Initial Study Plan outlines the overall scope of the analysis, including the population, type of analysis, and data sources identified to conduct the reevaluation. It also includes a description of ongoing research, quality assurance commitments, plans for project management, and the definitions of key terms.
Projects Initiated in FY 2024:
Statewide Thrifty Food Plan Cost for Hawaii
The Thrifty Food Plan cost for Hawaii is based on an adjustment for the price of food in Honolulu. As part of the Spring 2024 Regulatory Agenda, FNS announced a proposed rule that would revise regulations such that the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in Hawaii would instead be based on an adjustment for the price of food in the State of Hawaii. CNPP is developing a scientific report to be released alongside the proposed rule that provides details on the data and methodology used to calculate the Thrifty Food Plan cost for the State of Hawaii using data from throughout the State of Hawaii rather than from Honolulu alone.
Linking USDA Nutrition Data to Retail and Household Food Scanner Data
As stipulated in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (PL 115–334, the 2018 Farm Bill), USDA must reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan based on current food prices. CNPP and the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) are collaborating 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, CNPP identified a need to examine the evidence on household food waste in the United States. CNPP’s 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:
- What evidence has been published that describes how much food is wasted at home?
- 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, FNS has 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 adherence 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 of a four-person household.
Food Price Data Collection in the Non-Contiguous States and U.S. Territories
FNS has 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 FNS 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, FNS has 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 for clarity and transparency regarding the Thrifty Food Plan market basket’s level of convenience and amount of variety, based on perceptions of food and beverage convenience and variety.
Feasibility Assessment of Updating Economies of Scale Factors for the Thrifty Food Plan
As required by law, FNS makes household-size adjustments to the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan taking into account economies of scale. These economies-of-scale adjustments account for the fact that larger households can purchase food in larger containers, often at lower per-unit costs, with a lower likelihood of wasting food from these larger containers. Thus, smaller households have relatively higher per-capita benefit levels than larger households. This study will assess the feasibility of calculating updated economies of scale adjustment factors by household size. This will include the development of an appropriate methodology, the evaluation of existing data sources, and an assessment of the need for new data collection.
Projects Initiated in FY 2023:
Alternative Approaches to Reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan
The current methodology for reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan uses an optimization model that selects quantities of foods and beverages in different categories to represent a nutritious diet and subjects the entire selection to a set of constraints, including dietary needs, consumption patterns, calories, and food prices. FNS has commissioned a study to convene an expert panel to identify alternative approaches to reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan. The options could include significant changes to the current model, a different optimization model, or an entirely different methodology; all while considering the congressionally required elements of Thrifty Food Plan reevaluations.
Ground Truthing the Cost of the Thrifty Food Plan
FNS has commissioned a study to assess whether it is feasible to purchase food from retailers to prepare healthy meals that align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (DGA) with SNAP allotments, which are a function of the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan. The feasibility of the Thrifty Food Plan cost will be tested in both urban and rural areas in multiple regions of the contiguous 48 States by nutrition experts with a thorough understanding of the DGA. The study will also test whether the Thrifty Food Plan cost can also meet the dietary needs of households with additional nutrition constraints, such as lactose free or gluten free diets.
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, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans are used by various Federal and State agencies and the court system.
The Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans were last reevaluated in 2007, maintaining the same inflation-adjusted costs as those of previous editions.
- 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.
The market baskets are based on dietary standards, food composition, consumption data, and food prices current at the time of publication. The calculation of these food plans involved the same optimization model that was used to calculate the Thrifty Food Plan, 2006 with different cost levels and different assumptions regarding food waste.
Questions? For technical inquiries, contact: FNS.FoodPlans@usda.gov.