Common misconceptions surround the slow food and sustainable movement. Many people claim that they would like to eat better, more ethically, more sustainably but can't afford it.

News that organic food prices were falling a bit inspired Siobhan Phillips to try an experiment. Her story is detailed in Salon. Though it was not without effort and it took new thinking- The experiment was quite successful. She shopped only at places that would take food stamps, and she set her monthly budget for the food stamp allocation set for her community.

She summarized at the end;

Yet our four-week hypothetical did provide a feasible way for my husband and me to eat sustainably long-term: When the month finished -- with a magisterial $1.20 left in the cache -- we decided to stick with most of our experimental changes. We now eat slightly larger quantities of meat, fruit and cheese, and pepperoni pizza is back in the menu rotation. But apart from that pepperoni (and I'm still looking for an ethical source), I've yet to purchase any recurring items that aren't SOLE-justified, and our grocery bills have stayed lean.

I have long suspected for myself that we could all eat better with more training, skills and more respect for the life giving and enjoyable process of feeding ourselves and our loved ones. Siobahn's experience does seem to support those thoughts.

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