Reference

Food budget reference: the USDA Food Plans for your household

USDA's four Food Plans priced for the people in your household, with the household-size adjustment, a monthly figure, an optional line for meals eaten away from home, and your own spending beside them. A reference for comparison, not a recommended budget.

Shopping and budget sets a weekly food budget from your own spending first. This page puts USDA's reference figures beside it: what each of the four Food Plans costs for the people in your household, at August 2026 prices. Choose a group for each person; leave the rest at "(nobody)".

USDA plan level Person 1 Person 1: meals eaten away each week Person 2 Person 2: meals eaten away each week Person 3 Person 3: meals eaten away each week Person 4 Person 4: meals eaten away each week Person 5 Person 5: meals eaten away each week Person 6 Person 6: meals eaten away each week Person 7 Person 7: meals eaten away each week Person 8 Person 8: meals eaten away each week Your own weekly grocery spending (from the spending sheet)

Assumptions behind the numbers

Weekly costs per person come from USDA's August 2026 reports, issued September 2026: the Thrifty Food Plan and the Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost and Liberal plans, U.S. averages. USDA posts a new report each month on its Cost of Food reports page; we update the figures here at this manual's yearly link check (next due 2027-10-16), so they drift with food prices in between. USDA's Economic Research Service Food Price Outlook gives the current forecast.
The household total follows USDA's footnote: add each person's cost, then apply the household-size adjustment (1 person add 20 percent, 2 add 10, 3 add 5, 4 none, 5 or 6 subtract 5, 7 or more subtract 10). Monthly = weekly × 4.333.
USDA rounds every printed figure to the nearest 10 cents from unrounded values, so a sum of printed figures can differ from USDA's own total by 10 to 20 cents. The August 2026 reference family of four sums to $236.20 here; USDA prints $236.30.
Every plan assumes all meals and snacks are prepared at home. The meals-away line is Iowa State's method in its What You Spend calculator (each person's cost less 1/21 for each meal eaten away from home); it is not USDA's.
The four plans are not a smooth ladder. The Thrifty plan uses a 2021 market basket and age groups 14 to 19 and 20 to 50; the other three use 2007-era baskets and age groups 14 to 18 and 19 to 50. For a 1-year-old the Thrifty figure is well below Low-Cost; for a woman 71 and over the two are nearly equal. USDA's Food Plans page explains how the plans are built.
The Thrifty plan's own report assumes some convenience foods, some planning and preparation time, and a 5 percent allowance for food waste (Shopping and budget).

Fictional example

The Grant household (Malik, male 19 or 20 to 50; Teresa, female 19 or 20 to 50; Ava, child 9 to 11; Leo, child 4 to 5) is a household of four, so the factor is 1.00. The calculator shows weekly references of $231.40 (Thrifty), $240.60 (Low-Cost), $301.30 (Moderate-Cost) and $367.00 (Liberal). Their own baseline was about $206 a week on groceries and $48 eaten out, invented for the example. Which reference to compare with, and what to set as their budget, is the family's decision; the page states no verdict.

Limits

The USDA Food Plans are a reference for comparison, not a recommended budget, and this page is not financial advice. They describe a nutritious diet at four cost levels for a national average household; your prices, store, region, diet and how much you eat away from home all differ. Alaska and Hawaii have their own Thrifty figures. If your household needs help with food costs, Shopping and budget lists free federal and nonprofit resources.