source: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/FoodPlans/Updates/foodmar06.pdf (lines 01 through 12, and 13, 15, 17 and 19)

United States Department of Agriculture Food Plans
March, 2006

The top panel provides the raw costs for an individual living in a family of four, per week and per month. Panel B provides the cost for several configurations of family, weekly, monthly, annually and per-person per meal. The USDA issues the basic data on a regular basis, and provides cookbooks that one can use to cook nutritious meals from the ingredients in the various "market baskets" that go with each food plan. The Thrifty Food Plan is considered by some to be too austere for long-term use; it is the successor to the "emergency food plan." Some sources suggest that the four food plans represent typical spending by families in the bottom, second, third and top quartiles of the income distribution, though it is difficult to picture most Americans getting by on $2.75 per person per meal ("liberal" plan: column 4, line 20) and eating all their meals prepared at home.

Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels, U.S. Average, March 20061
	AGE-GENDER GROUPS	WEEKLY COST2					MONTHLY COST
		Thrifty plan	Low- cost plan	Moderate- cost plan	Liberal plan		Thrifty plan	Low- cost plan	Moderate- cost plan	Liberal plan
		(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)		(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
Panel A
	INDIVIDUALS3
	CHILD:
01	1 year	$18.00	$22.70	$26.50	$31.90		$77.80	$98.50	$114.80	$138.30
02	2 years	18.00	22.40	26.70	32.20		77.80	97.00	115.70	139.50
03	3-5 years	19.90	24.70	30.50	36.70		86.40	107.00	132.00	159.20
04	6-8 years	25.20	33.40	41.20	48.20		109.10	144.90	178.70	208.70
05	9-11 years	29.50	37.60	48.10	56.00		127.80	162.90	208.40	242.70
	MALE:
06	12-14 years	30.70	42.50	52.50	62.10		133.10	184.10	227.50	269.10
07	15-19 years	31.90	44.00	54.70	63.60		138.20	190.50	237.00	275.70
08	20-50 years	34.00	43.70	54.50	66.60		147.20	189.50	236.10	288.50
09	51 years and over	30.90	41.50	51.20	61.70		133.80	180.00	222.10	267.50
	FEMALE:
10	12-19 years	30.60	36.80	44.50	53.90		132.70	159.40	192.90	233.50
11	20-50 years	30.70	38.10	46.60	60.00		133.10	165.00	201.80	260.00
12	51 years and over	30.20	37.00	46.00	55.40		130.60	160.10	199.50	239.90
Panel B
		Weekly Cost and Per Person per Meal					Monthly Cost and Annual Cost
		Thrifty plan	Low- cost plan	Moderate- cost plan	Liberal plan		Thrifty plan	Low- cost plan	Moderate- cost plan	Liberal plan
	FAMILIES:
	FAMILY OF 24:
13	20-50 years	$71.20	$90.00	$111.20	$139.30		$308.40	$390.00	$481.60	$603.40
14	per person per meal / per year	$1.70	$2.14	$2.65	$3.32		$3,701	$4,680	$5,779	$7,241
15	51 years & over	$67.10	$86.30	$107.00	$128.80		$290.90	$374.10	$463.70	$558.10
16	per person per meal / per year	$1.60	$2.05	$2.55	$3.07		$3,491	$4,489	$5,564	$6,697
FAMILY OF 4: Couple, 20-50 years and children —
17	2 and 3-5 years	$102.60	$128.90	$158.20	$195.60		$444.60	$558.50	$685.60	$847.40
18	per person per meal / per year	$1.22	$1.53	$1.88	$2.33		$5,335	$6,702	$8,227	$10,169
19	6-8 and 9-11 years	119.40	152.80	190.40	230.80		517.20	662.30	824.90	1,000.00
20	per person per meal / per year	$1.42	$1.82	$2.27	$2.75		$6,206	$7,948	$9,899	$12,000
21	Man 20-50 alone	40.80	52.44	65.40	79.92		176.80	227.24	283.40	346.30
22	per meal / per year	1.94	2.50	3.11	3.81		$2,122	$2,727	$3,401	$4,156
23	Man 51+ alone	37.08	49.80	61.44	74.04		160.70	215.80	266.20	320.80
24	per meal / per year	1.77	2.37	2.93	3.53		$1,928	$2,590	$3,195	$3,850
25	Woman 20-50 alone	36.84	45.72	55.92	72.00		159.60	198.10	242.30	312.00
26	per meal / per year	1.75	2.18	2.66	3.43		$1,916	$2,377	$2,908	$3,744
27	Woman 51+ alone	36.24	44.40	55.20	66.48		157.00	192.40	239.20	288.10
28	per meal / per year	1.73	2.11	2.63	3.17		$1,884	$2,309	$2,870	$3,457
1Basis is that all meals and snacks are purchased at stores and prepared at home. For specific foods and quantities of foods in the Thrifty Food Plan, see Family Economics and Nutrition Review, Vol. 13, No.1 (2001), pp. 50-64; for specific foods and quantities of foods in the Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Plans, see The Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans, 2003 Administrative Report (2003). All four Food Plans are based on 1989-91 data and are updated to current dollars using the Consumer Price Index for specific food items. 2All costs are rounded to nearest 10 cents. 3The costs given are for individuals in 4-person families. For individuals in other size families, the following adjustments are suggested: 1-person — add 20 percent; 2-person — add 10 percent; 3-person — add 5 percent; 4-person — no adjustment; 5- or 6-person — subtract 5 percent; 7- (or more) person — subtract 10 percent. To calculate overall household food costs, (1) adjust food costs for each person in household and then (2) sum these adjusted food costs. 4Ten percent added for family size adjustment.