A family of four needs roughly $930 to $1,790 a month for groceries under USDA's food plan costs for August 2026, depending on the kids' ages and which of USDA's four plans you follow. For the reference family of two adults and two kids aged 6 to 11, the Thrifty plan comes to $1,023.70 a month and the Liberal plan to about $1,679.
What does USDA say a family of 4 should spend on groceries?
Every month, USDA prices four food plans: Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost and Liberal. Each one is the cost of a set grocery list for meals and snacks made at home, at average US prices. The Thrifty plan is the one SNAP benefits are based on.
USDA lists a cost per person, so a family's figure is the sum of its four people. Here is what that comes to in August 2026 for three common families of four, each with two adults:
| Kids in the family | Thrifty | Low-Cost | Moderate-Cost | Liberal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ages 2–3 and 4–5 | $934 | $945 | $1,163 | $1,435 |
| Ages 6–8 and 9–11 | $1,024 | $1,126 | $1,388 | $1,679 |
| Two teens, a boy and a girl, 14–18 | $1,159 | $1,186 | $1,461 | $1,788 |
Monthly totals, rounded to the dollar, adding USDA's August 2026 per-person costs from the Thrifty report and the Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost and Liberal report. Thrifty uses adult ages 20–50 and teen ages 14–19; the other three plans use 19–50 and 14–18.
For a weekly figure, divide by 4.333, the same factor USDA uses to turn weekly costs into monthly ones. The family with kids aged 6 to 11 comes to about $236 a week on Thrifty, $260 on Low-Cost, $320 on Moderate-Cost and $387 on Liberal.
Why do the kids' ages change the number so much?
USDA prices each age group separately, and the gap between a toddler and a teenager is large. On the Moderate-Cost plan in August 2026, a child aged 2 to 3 is $207.10 a month and a boy aged 14 to 18 is $403.30. That is why the teen family's Moderate-Cost total is about $298 a month higher than the toddler family's, with the same number of people.
The practical upshot: a grocery budget for four is not a number you set once. Recheck it when a child moves into a new age band, not just when prices rise.
You may also notice that Thrifty and Low-Cost are only $12 apart for the family with young kids. The two plans are built on different data. The Thrifty plan was rebuilt in 2021, while the other three are still based on 2001–02 food data updated for price changes, according to the notes in each report. For young children, treat Thrifty and Low-Cost as close neighbors rather than two separate tiers.
How do you work out your own family's number?
- Open the latest USDA monthly cost of food reports. They update every month.
- Find the row for each person's age and sex, and pick one plan column.
- Add the four monthly costs. A four-person household needs no size adjustment. USDA suggests subtracting 5 percent for five or six people and adding 5 percent for three.
- Divide by 4.333 to get a weekly cap.
Worked example: two adults aged 19 to 50, one boy aged 4 to 5 and one girl aged 9 to 11 on the Low-Cost plan. That is $317.20 + $275.70 + $178.80 + $270.90 = $1,042.60 a month, or about $241 a week.
USDA's lists hold only foods and beverages. Paper towels, cleaning supplies, diapers or pet food that land on the same receipt need their own line in your budget.
How does that compare with what families of four actually spend?
On average, real households of four spend less at the grocery store than the USDA figures in the table above, and a large share on eating out. In 2024, four-person households spent an average of $8,697 on food at home, about $725 a month, and $5,847 on food away from home, about $487 a month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys.
The difference is mostly about what is being counted. USDA prices every meal and snack as if it were made at home. Real families buy some of those meals out. If your family eats out a few times a week, your grocery spending can sit below the USDA line while your total food spending sits above it. Those averages also cover every mix of ages, so they won't line up neatly with your row.
Which level should your family pick?
Start with the column closest to what you actually spent last month, not the one you wish you had spent. Add up four weeks of grocery receipts or bank statement lines, then find the plan column nearest that total for your kids' ages.
A budget you can hit four weeks running is more useful than a lower one that runs out by the second Friday. Once you have stayed inside your column for a month, try the next one down. The budget hub covers the habits that keep a number intact at the register.
What does that look like per meal?
Three meals a day for four people is 84 meals a week. Dividing the weekly figures by 84 gives a rough per-person, per-meal ceiling for the family with kids aged 6 to 11:
| Plan | Weekly (about) | Per person, per meal (about) |
|---|---|---|
| Thrifty | $236 | $2.81 |
| Low-Cost | $260 | $3.09 |
| Moderate-Cost | $320 | $3.81 |
| Liberal | $387 | $4.61 |
Snacks come out of the same money, so the real per-meal amount is a little lower. It still works as a quick check: an example dinner that costs $15 to feed four is $3.75 a serving, right at the Moderate-Cost line. Planning the week before you shop, as in the guide to meal planning for a week, is where that check is easiest to make.
Turning the weekly number into a plan
MealMaxx plans breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week around your grocery budget, so you can start from the weekly figure in your row. It prices your shopping list for the stores you shop at, with an estimated total before you shop, and shows each meal's estimated cost per serving.
