![]() With the update to the TFP and resulting bump to SNAP benefits, all eligible recipients will now have additional funds and the accompanying flexibility in their budgets. In addition, a recent USDA study found that 90 percent of families reported barriers to a healthy diet throughout the month, and more than half cited affordability as a major concern. Indeed, almost half of all families use up all or nearly all their benefits in the first weeks of a normal month. At an average of $1.40 per person per meal, households across the country are left struggling to meet their most basic needs. Though SNAP is a crucial anti-poverty and anti-hunger program, advocates have long recognized a basic truth: Current SNAP benefits are too low. The increase will have a direct impact on the 40 million-plus individuals who use SNAP The result is a long-overdue increase to TFP and SNAP purchasing power that better reflects families’ lived experiences and dietary needs. ![]() Rather than shaping food plans for a healthy diet within the already limited cost of the TFP, the USDA determined what foods and beverages would be included and then calculated a newly estimated cost. Perhaps most importantly, the “cost constraint” no longer applies. The 2021 reevaluation begins to correct some of TFP’s unrealistic assumptions. Moreover, the national legacy of systemic racism-including redlining and other practices that have created disparities in access to food and transportation-means that these harmful assumptions can have a disproportionate impact on low-income people of color. It does not meet federal nutrition guidelines or reflect what households actually eat and it fails to account for current economic realities or costs of living, as well as the costs of specific cultural foods or special dietary needs. For example, the TFP has not historically considered the time or equipment required to cook when determining the set of foods included in the benefit. The TFP has long been known to rely on unrealistic assumptions that undermine the true cost of a nutritious, practical diet. The modernization of the Thrifty Food Plan is long overdue.Īs American grocery habits, food bills, and nutrition guidelines have transformed, the TFP has stayed the same: Its last revision was in 2006, and the estimate has only been adjusted for inflation since its inception in 1975. Here are five things to know about the update: 1. Although relatively modest, this represents the single largest permanent increase in SNAP benefits in the program’s history. ![]() According to the agency, SNAP benefits will increase by about 25 percent-an average of $36.24 per person each month, or $1.19 per day. ![]() In August 2021, the Biden administration’s USDA revealed the results of the reevaluation and cost update to the TFP, as well as its impact on the SNAP program. Increase to SNAP benefits under the updated Thrifty Food Plan ![]()
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