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Military Families Are Going Hungry--and the Numbers Don't Yet Reflect the War by Marcus Baram
Military families are experiencing a sharp rise in food insecurity, driven largely by the rising cost of groceries, according to a survey conducted before the start of the Iran war in February and its inflationary impact.
The biennial report by the Military Family Advisory Network, a national nonprofit that supports military and veteran families, surveyed more than 10,000 families between October 2025 and January 2026. The report examines how economic security, health care access, spouse employment, community connection, family functioning and military life satisfaction shape family well-being and force readiness.
More than 41% of respondents said they were experiencing food insecurity. That’s a dramatic jump from 2023, when 16% reported food insecurity. Both surveys predate the war-related inflation that has since raised costs for many military families, as Capital & Main previously reported.
More than half of respondents (53.8%) identified food costs as a barrier to eating healthy, citing the high price of groceries and healthy options in particular. One of the most striking findings, the report said, was that many families reported skipping meals or portions of meals so that other family members could eat.
“People are struggling. Things have gotten a lot more expensive, especially with the gas prices,” said the spouse of a deployed service member living near Camp Pendleton in Southern California who asked to remain anonymous due to her fear of retaliation. Her family is receiving extra pay during her husband’s deployment. “But when he comes home, that will not be true anymore,” she said, noting that she knows other spouses who are being squeezed by rising inflation.
The biennial report by the Military Family Advisory Network, a national nonprofit that supports military and veteran families, surveyed more than 10,000 families between October 2025 and January 2026. The report examines how economic security, health care access, spouse employment, community connection, family functioning and military life satisfaction shape family well-being and force readiness.
More than 41% of respondents said they were experiencing food insecurity. That’s a dramatic jump from 2023, when 16% reported food insecurity. Both surveys predate the war-related inflation that has since raised costs for many military families, as Capital & Main previously reported.
More than half of respondents (53.8%) identified food costs as a barrier to eating healthy, citing the high price of groceries and healthy options in particular. One of the most striking findings, the report said, was that many families reported skipping meals or portions of meals so that other family members could eat.
“People are struggling. Things have gotten a lot more expensive, especially with the gas prices,” said the spouse of a deployed service member living near Camp Pendleton in Southern California who asked to remain anonymous due to her fear of retaliation. Her family is receiving extra pay during her husband’s deployment. “But when he comes home, that will not be true anymore,” she said, noting that she knows other spouses who are being squeezed by rising inflation.
https://prospect.org/2026/06/25/military-families-going-hungry-numbers-dont-yet-reflect-war/]
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