Can $69 Buy a Week of Groceries in Baltimore? The Banner Tests the Thrifty Plan

Baltimore Banner reporters test the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan—the budget used for SNAP and other programs—by shopping four times to see if a single person can live on $69 per trip (about $299/month) and a family on $272.46 per week (about $1,180/month) across Baltimore-area stores. Despite using coupons and sales at Aldi, Giant, Weis, Harris Teeter and more, they repeatedly exceeded the solo-budget targets and found the family budget far from affordable, underscoring that the plan—based on 2021 data—hasn’t kept pace with inflation or local prices and that SNAP benefits won’t automatically rise with costs. The piece concludes the federal minimum budget does not reflect current prices in Baltimore, though the plan may still serve as a rough budgeting guide.