July Shop with a Cause Recap + Coconut Oil Giveaway!

* This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who left comments and participated. You are amazing and I appreciate each one of you. I’ll announce the winner Tuesday!*

I’ve talked about how I love shopping with a cause because it is a win-win situation. I get to support local, eco-friendly stores, find useful products to help my sustainable lifestyle, buy reused goods to avoid contributing to land fill and mindless consumerism, and since I am shopping I still get something in return!

Just Act Natural at the hub of the Appleton Saturday Farmer’s Market

When I shop for food, I always go local first. I buy meat & eggs from local farms or farmer’s markets – places where I can see how animals are raised and interact and talk with the people who raise them. I love chatting with vendors at the farmer’s market! You get to meet great people and talk about food, one of my favorite past times. When you buy local produce, you can confirm that the producer doesn’t use pesticides or harmful chemicals. Sometimes organic certification is too expensive for small farmers, and I’m suspicious of the big brands and companies taking the organic label and using it as a selling point rather than a real commitment to sustainable agriculture. Plus when you buy local, you support good people like your vendors and you reduce the environmental impact of shipping costs. Organic apples are great, but when they come all the way from Chile? Buying local means you’ll also get to discover seasonal produce and eat the freshest, most delicious produce for that time of year. Usually those Chilean apples don’t taste as good as an orchard-fresh one in the fall.

Sidewalk art in front of Just Act Natural at the Farmer’s Market

When I can’t source food locally, I order online. There are all sorts of deals and discounts out there for you to save money while getting great whole foods products. I order products I can’t buy in Japan on iHerb.com, but I’ve also discovered that even in the U.S. their coconut butter prices are the most affordable. Making your own is always an option, but I’ve had much less success with coconut butter than something like almond milk, unfortunately.

Blueberry Pudding Cake – the secret is in the coconut butter!

I’ve ordered some great meat and eggs from Tropical Traditions, as well as coconut products. I LOVE bison, and I got some great bison brats from TT when they were on sale in June. I also really like their soy-free, grain-free, pastured eggs. The eggs come from a farm in southeast Wisconsin, so I didn’t feel too bad about ordering them specially and having them shipped across the state to my parents home. Can I call that semi-local? My family went through 8 dozen in a snap, mostly because there were six people at home and I was using half of the eggs for some recipes I wanted to try. I’ve got a new section on the eat, recycle, repeat Facebook page called “Community Inspired Meals“, where I can show off food that I made but the recipes are from other bloggers. It doesn’t feel right to promote those recipes on the blog without proper permission.

Egg Cups from Paleo Parent’s cookbook Eat LIke a Dinosaur, made with TT eggs!

Anyway, I’ve gone on a tangent as usual. iHerb – coconut butter, discounted US groceries, check. Tropical Traditions – bison, eggs, and coconut oil. Donezo. I also love their coconut based deoderant. Getting awesome food and supporting a great cause? Here is where you come in. You can shop on iHerb or Tropical Traditions and use my referral codes. I really, truly appreciate your support by reading and following eat, recycle, repeat. If you need some of these food items and want to order online, I would be very grateful if you used these codes. It helps me improve this site and continue to provide quality material and recipes. It also means that you and I both get to eat more coconut butter ;)

Shop iHerb! Use this code: KUH294

Shop Tropical Traditions! Use this code

TT also has many free shipping dates, so if you sign up for their newsletter or follow me on Facebook you can maximize the benefit to your wallet as well as your health.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Thanks for supporting me and eat, recycle, repeat. As a thank you, I’m giving away one 32 oz jar of Tropical Traditions coconut oil. This oil is my favorite for it’s versatility – I use it in cooking, baking, smoothies, and for body care – moisturizing skin & lips, treating itchy bug bites, and shaving my legs. To enter, please follow me on Facebook and then come back and leave a comment saying you’ve done so. If you already follow me on Facebook – thanks, you’re awesome! – please leave a comment telling me what you want to buy from iHerb or Tropical Traditions.

Note: You’ll need some of this coconut oil to make my 4 ingredient healthy Avocado Fudge – recipe coming Friday. I have to stop eating it all at once so I can get some pictures!

Happy Shopping!

Giveaway will close Sunday, July 12th at midnight, Central Time (USA).

Video from Tropical Traditions about how to use coconut oil

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