Food Assistance Benefits Set to Rise as 'Meal Gap Act' Replaces 'Thrifty' Baseline with 'Low-Cost' Plan

The Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2025 is poised to make some massive changes to how food assistance benefits are calculated and delivered, potentially increasing the monthly grocery budget for millions of families. Essentially, this bill swaps out the old, restrictive “thrifty food plan” used to calculate benefits for a new, presumably more generous “low-cost food plan” starting October 1, 2025. This change means the baseline for benefit allotments will be calculated based on the cost of feeding a specific four-person family unit, with adjustments made for household size and higher-cost areas like Alaska and Hawaii (Sec. 2).

The Grocery Budget Upgrade: From Thrifty to Low-Cost

For the average person receiving benefits, this is the biggest deal. The “thrifty food plan” has long been criticized for setting the bar too low, essentially requiring families to stretch a dollar further than is realistic for a healthy diet. Switching to a “low-cost food plan” acknowledges that reality, aiming for a more adequate budget. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to define the specific market basket of food items for this new plan by the end of 2031, reviewing and updating it every five years to keep pace with current food prices and dietary advice (Sec. 2). This means that, in theory, your food budget will be more closely tied to what groceries actually cost today, not what they cost years ago.

Deductions Get a Serious Overhaul

Beyond the benefit calculation, the bill tackles two major deductions that can make or break a household’s eligibility and benefit amount. First, it introduces a Standard Medical Expense Deduction for elderly or disabled household members (Sec. 3). Instead of having to track and itemize every medical receipt, these individuals can now opt for a standard deduction, set at $140 for fiscal year 2025 and indexed to inflation thereafter. This is a huge win for simplicity and means less paperwork and fewer headaches for people already dealing with chronic conditions.

Second, the bill removes the existing cap on deductions for excess shelter expenses (Sec. 3). If you live in a high-rent area—think any major metro like New York, San Francisco, or even rapidly growing cities where housing costs have exploded—your high rent or mortgage payments can be deducted from your income before benefits are calculated. Previously, there was a limit on how much of those high costs could count. By striking this cap, the bill directly benefits households dealing with the housing crisis, allowing their true cost of living to be reflected in their benefit calculation. This is a crucial change for anyone juggling rising rent and utility bills.

Eliminating the Time Clock

Finally, the bill wipes out a specific time limit rule that applied to certain food assistance programs by removing subsection (o) from the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (Sec. 4). While the specifics of the eliminated rule aren't detailed here, removing a time limit generally means that those who were previously subject to losing benefits after a certain period—often tied to work requirements or lack thereof—will now have continuous access, provided they meet other eligibility criteria. This simplifies the rules and provides a more stable safety net for those who need it most, cutting down on the administrative churn of people cycling on and off the program.

The Bottom Line

This legislation is a significant move toward increasing food security. By shifting the benefit baseline to a more realistic “low-cost” plan and removing barriers like the shelter deduction cap and a specific time limit, the bill addresses long-standing criticisms of the program. The biggest challenge, however, will be the administrative lift. The Secretary has the critical job of defining the new “low-cost food plan” market basket, and that definition will directly impact the purchasing power of millions of families. The shift will also require extensive technical updates across several major pieces of legislation, including the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code, to ensure all the related rules line up with the new calculation methods (Sec. 2, Sec. 4).