This report explores different approaches to reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which represents a low-cost, nutritious diet comprised of foods and beverages consumed at home and is used to calculate SNAP benefit amounts.
The Statewide Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimate for Hawaii report describes the process used to calculate a new Thrifty Food Plan cost estimate for Hawaii that is based on the best currently available food price data from throughout the state of Hawaii in alignment with the proposed rule. This report uses the same peer-reviewed methodology as the Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii report, published by FNS in 2023.
The market basket costs in the Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 apply to the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. By law, the USDA must make cost adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan to reflect the cost of food in Alaska and Hawaii. The Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii report provides updated estimates of the June 2022 cost of the reevaluated Thrifty Food Plan in Alaska and Hawaii.
USDA produces four food plans outlining practical, nutritious diets at successively higher cost levels: the Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans. The Thrifty Food Plan serves as the basis for maximum allotments in SNAP.
The USDA Food Plans represent a healthy diet at four different cost levels. Each food plan specifies quantities of food and beverage categories that can be purchased and prepared to make healthy meals and snacks at home.
In September 2020, in response to a Congressional Directive, the USDA contracted with Insight Policy Research to conduct the Measuring the Cost of a Thrifty Food Plan in Puerto Rico study. The purpose of the study is to provide CNPP with options for measuring the cost of a TFP in Puerto Rico.
The Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 was released on Aug. 16, 2021. The TFP represents the cost of a nutritious, practical, cost-effective diet.
Expenditures on Children by Families provides estimates of the cost of raising children from birth through age 17 for major budgetary components. The most recent version of the report was published in 2017 and estimates the cost of raising children born in 2015. Currently, USDA is evaluating the methods used to inform this report to ensure they reflect best practices in the field.
CNPP commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division to conduct an independent study on the process to update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The Expenditures on Children by Families annual report provides estimates of the cost of raising children from birth through age 17 for different budgetary components, including food, housing, transportation, health care, clothing, child care and education, and miscellaneous costs.