Make Christmas Shopping a Breeze

Christmas is again upon us and so is the mutual joy and pain of Christmas shopping. The stores are crowded, the car-parks even more so, and people are inclined to get grumpy thanks to hot and sticky weather and the stresses of the “happiest time of year” (plus all of the other shoppers!) Thank goodness for grocery shopping online!

It’s fair to say that almost every Christmas gift you will ever need to buy can be purchased easily online. You can also do all of your Festive Season grocery shopping online easily and without fuss. Some large supermarket chains and gourmet stores have their own websites, and ALDI online shopping can be achieved by visiting a grocery service like Grocery Butler, who will shop specifically at ALDI if you so request.

ALDI online shopping has a vast array of treats to offer shoppers. Here is just a glimpse of some of the special products exclusive to ALDI which can be bought via Grocery Butler when you do your Christmas grocery shopping online :

• Christmas Trees
• Christmas baubles
• Gourmet sweets and chocolates – perfect for a Santa Treat to leave out on Christmas Eve!
• Christmas cards and gift wrap
• The perfect Aussie Pavlova for Christmas Day
• The best of in-season summer fruits
• Turkey Roasts
• Leg Hams
• Fresh Seafood
• Gourmet puddings
• Christmas Crackers
• Gourmet nibbles, including cheeses and nuts

ALDI online shopping has gifts wrapped up as well:

• A Water Lounge for your pool
• Mobile phone and tablet accessories
• Tablets and smartphones
• Homewares and appliances
• Giftware for men, women, and kids
• Stocking fillers, including the essentials like socks and undies

Make life easy for yourself – do your grocery shopping online this Christmas – better still, opt for ALDI online shopping for unique products at great prices. Merry Christmas!

Interesting Trivia about Tobacco and Cigarettes

We don’t often stop to think about the everyday products we use and how they have come to this point in history. For example, while these days it may be most convenient to simply buy cigarettes online, in the past they were sold and even distributed in a very different manner.

Here are some interesting facts and trivialities about tobacco and cigarettes.

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  Native Americans from the Cree tribal nation traded tobacco pipes with other tribes as a form of currency. Tobacco smoking amongst these peoples was a ceremonial pastime reserved for important occasions.

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  Tobacco for human enjoyment was introduced England by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 1600’s. The monarch of the time, King James I, opposed its use and trade with vigour– but in this, he apparently had little ultimate say.

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  As much as twenty percent of a cigarette’s content is sugar, despite the fact that cigarettes contain as many as four thousand distinct chemical ingredients.
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  Cigarettes are sold in tobacconists, are easy to buy in service stations and supermarkets, and it’s even easier to buy cigarettes online. One trillion cigarettes are sold worldwide each year, in an industry worth $400 billion.
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  Men smoke cigarettes much more than women do in every nation of the world, with the exception of one: the United States. Women and men smoke in almost even numbers in this country.
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  Some smokers choose menthol or “lite” cigarettes as they believe they’re a “healthier” option. This is not the case. People who smoke these “lite” cigarettes most commonly find they draw on the cigarette harder, ultimately consuming just as much nicotine and tar as they would if smoking a regular cigarette.
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  We are fortunate here in Australia that we can buy cigarettes online which are legitimately sold; as many as twenty-five percent of cigarettes sold globally are in fact smuggled across borders.
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  Cigarettes are the world’s most popular placebos. People who smoke and are addicted to nicotine and the practice of smoking crave the relief they get from a cigarette. It satisfies the brain’s yearning for nicotine, which can both stimulate and relax, depending on the person.
• 
  
  Spices and other “toppings” are traditionally blended with tobacco to enhance its flavour; different tobacco varieties have differing tastes as well. Some of these include dill seed, oak, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, orange oil, mint, vanilla, rum, and liquorice.

Whenever you buy tobacco online, remember you need to provide proof of age to make a purchase.

ALDI – Plans to Expand

ALDI is unquestionably a discount shopping juggernaut – and it shows no signs of slowing down. Currently a staple in capital cities on Australia’s east, including an array of ALDI Brisbane to ALDI Melbourne stores, the discount supermarket chain goes from strength to strength. 

ALDI currently has over three hundred and fifty stores located across the country; ALDI Brisbane alone has twenty stores in close proximity to the city centre. ALDI is in the process of planning a large expansion into South Australia and Western Australia. There will be new distribution centres built which will service ALDI supermarkets located in these states.

Local distribution centres are crucial for ALDI to stock fresh food product lines, as shipping fresh and perishable goods from the eastern states across the country is not a feasible option. ALDI Sydney stores have a local distribution centre, as do ALDI Brisbane and Melbourne stores. Having new centres in South Australia and Western Australia by the end of 2015 will serve these states and in turn, dozens of new stores are planned to be open during 2016. This will open up a myriad of shopping options for locals, including ALDI delivery for online liquor purchases and ALDI delivery for those who use online shopping service providers, who will now be able to add this chain to their grocery source list.

ALDI’s expansion is not limited to store locations. The chain is also going ahead with plans to cement its footprint in ski and snow gear. Annual winter sales at ALDI have been remarkably successful, with many people foregoing the expensive branded ski wear for cheaper, yet surprisingly high quality, ski and snow clothing. The chain is looking to expand into selling Australian ski lift passes, skis, snowboards, and other hardware for snowsports. The company can source high quality gear from its European parent company at low cost – so why would you not buy ski gear from ALDI?

In just a couple of years, between ALDI Brisbane and ALDI Perth, there will be close to four hundred ALDI supermarket locations across Australia. What next for this chain? Many dedicated shoppers are hoping for an ALDI delivery service – only time will tell if this will come to fruition in the future – if not, there is always the option of using a grocery service.

The ALDI Shopping Experience

ALDI Australia, a branch of the worldwide supermarket phenomenon born in Germany, is amongst Australia’s most unique grocery retailers. The experience of shopping in ALDI (Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and other locations across the country) is one which is not necessarily suited to every shopper, yet those who have embraced this mode of grocery shopping absolutely love it.

Why do people love shopping at ALDI Australia-wide?

Shopping in ALDI means doing it all for yourself. You collect your own trolley, you select your own merchandise, and you pack your own order. This is the perfect solution for those of us who are endlessly frustrated by disinterested supermarket check-out staff who pack shopping bags in a haphazard way, putting leaky meat trays on top of fresh fruit, or squashing bread or eggs with heavy bottles of drink. At ALDI Australia, the buck stops with the shopper.

There is no merchandising of any kind in ALDI. Brands are simple and there are no industry marketing ploys in place to influence shoppers in any way. This supermarket chain is for the shopper who is not interested in fancy displays, browsing brands, or comparing prices; it is for the seasoned shopper who wants to get in and get out quickly and without fuss.

Groceries sourced in ALDI Australia-wide are basic and without fancy packaging. This is not the place to shop if you’re out to impress with particular brands. Here, however, is the surprise: quite a number of very brand-oriented shoppers, when it comes to clothing, accessories, and cars, proudly and loudly shop for their groceries in ALDI!

A shopping expedition to ALDI in Sydney (or anywhere else, for that matter) can be an exercise in “survival of the fittest”. Seasoned ALDI Sydney shoppers are not only cheap in that the bargain is the end-game; they are tough and proactive. Shopping in ALDI in Sydney can be almost a contact sport – especially during peak periods like the day before a Public Holiday.

So why shop at ALDI? You get cheap, basic groceries, bulk grocery items, there are no plastic bags, and you’re assured genuine savings on genuine local (Australian) products. Check out your local ALDI (Sydney, for example, has stores at Broadway, Thornleigh, Galston, Macquarie Centre, and Kellyville). You may be a covert before you know it.

From the Corner Store to Online Shopping...

It’s something we all need to do on at least a weekly basis, and most of us consider it a chore: grocery shopping. In the new millennium, most of us don’t think twice about that weekly trip to the supermarket, unless of course we do our grocery shopping online, but have you ever stopped to ponder how your grandparents shopped for the essentials back in their day?

A century ago, shoppers either went directly to a farmer, an open-air market, a dry goods store, or a produce seller, handed them their shopping list, and waited. The server behind the counter would then fill the order and pack it before handing it back over to the shopper and taking payment. Grocery stores during this era were generally very small, “corner store” type establishments; butchers, dry goods, bakeries, greengrocers, etc were all completely separate entities at this time.

Self-service shopping, where shoppers were actually allowed to touch the merchandise before payment was made, was born in 1916, with the “Piggly Wiggly” stores established in Memphis, USA. These self-service stores sold only dry goods and were called “groceterias”, as they resembled cafeterias in their style. Some shoppers found this new concept very intimidating.

Chain stores became popular from the 1920s. Most were small and had counter service; some offered delivery to homes and allowed charge accounts. Meat and fresh produce were still housed in separate stores.

The supermarket evolved in the 1930s and 1940s. These stocked all manner of produce; some were even “drive-through”! By the 1950s, supermarkets were commonplace and were spreading from city centres to the suburbs. Stores were bright and vibrant, and shoppers loved them. Everything was self-serve, and unlike the generation before, shoppers preferred it this way.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, warehouse-style mega markets became more commonplace. Merchandise was not limited to groceries, and everything from electrical goods to hardware and clothing became available under one roof.

The new millennium has ushered in the age of ultimate convenience. Shoppers can go to the supermarket, or choose to buy groceries online. With just a computer and an internet connection, the world is at one’s fingertips – and a big grocery shop can be completed quickly from anywhere and be delivered in a matter of hours.

What could possibly be next?

Our grandparents’ minds would have boggled at the very concept of being able to buy groceries online! Yet if you think about it, in a funny way, things have come full circle: to do your grocery shopping online, you submit your order; it gets filled by another, and then handed back to you. Just like in the old days...

Can Online Grocery Shopping Be Cheaper?

It’s time for the dreaded weekly trip to the supermarket. And today it just seems like it’s all too much. Can’t face the crowds? Got kids who you just know won’t cooperate? Is traffic out there a nightmare today? Is the weather too appalling to even consider going out?

Maybe you’re just not in the mood for shopping trolleys that have minds of their own. Or for dealing with rude and inconsiderate fellow shoppers. Perhaps you’re feeling unwell.

 

The good news is that you can buy cheap groceries online from the comfort of your home – and have them delivered to your door in no time at all.

One might assume that shopping for groceries online would be ultimately more expensive than doing it yourself. While it is true that you will have to cover delivery fees, and you might not be able to shop around yourself for bargains, buying groceries online can actually save you money overall. Here’s how:

• Save on Fuel and Transport – whether you need to drive two kilometres or twenty kilometres to get to your preferred supermarket, fuel costs do add up. Shop online and the cost of transport to you is nothing.
  
  
• Save on Parking Fees – more and more shopping centres are charging fees for parking – and these can be quite significant. (That’s not even considering the inconvenience of perhaps needing to park a long way from the supermarket – and pushing a trolley full of groceries through an open air carpark in bad weather is its own brand of purgatory).
  
  
• Take advantage of specials and deals – online grocery companies normally offer vouchers and coupons. For example - free delivery, $10 off your next order or 10% off.
  
  
• Some prices may be higher, but others will be lower – if you buy cheap groceries online from a great shopping service, you are assured that their priority is to always be competitive. Customer satisfaction is critical to their business – so keeping prices as competitive as possible relative to their service offered is in their best interest. 
  
  
  If you are like most people, your time is valuable, and you would rather spend it doing the things you enjoy. Or perhaps you are a professional, and your time is money, so taking a couple of hours out of your busy schedule to do your grocery shopping is both time consuming and costly.
  
  

Buy groceries online from a fantastic shopping service like Grocery Butler. It’s fast, convenient, stress-free, and reliable – and you are sure to ultimately save money.

Having a party? Let Grocery Butler do the Hard Work!

As anyone who has ever planned a party knows, organising everything for the big event can be an enormous undertaking. You need to choose a date, and perhaps a theme; you need to compose a guest list, send out invitations or e-vites, and collect RSVPs. When you know how many guests to expect, you then have to plan the menu, as well as activities (particularly if the party is for children) - and this is weeks before the big event! In the day or two before the party, you need to write your shopping list, clean the house, and shop for all of the supplies required for the party. Not to mention cook! The very idea is exhausting!

Shopping for groceries is, for many, their least enjoyed necessity, and perhaps the worst part of preparing to throw a party (until it’s time to clean up afterwards, anyway). Supermarkets are not fun places to visit, and unless you venture out to walk the aisles late at night, you will be competing with countless other people and their uncooperative shopping trolleys to get the job done. It is so much easier to buy groceries online.

Here is where Grocery Butler is available to help. We understand that time is precious and when you’re planning a party, the last thing you have time for or feel inclined to do is traipse up and down supermarket aisles with a list a mile long. With us, you buy groceries online from the comfort of your home or anywhere else you wish to, and before you know it, they are delivered to your door thanks to our friendly express delivery service.

Grocery Butler is your own personal shopper. Simply sign into our website, and place your order. Everything you could possibly need is at your fingertips, from bakery items to international gourmet cuisine; non-alcoholic beverages to sweets and desserts. No order is too big or too small – with a minimum order value of $25, you can even call on us when you realise you’ve forgotten a couple essential last-minute items.

No traffic, no petrol, no car parks, and no unsteerable shopping trolleys. What could be easier? Why would you ever not buy groceries online?

Next time you’re throwing a party, call on Grocery Butler to take the hard work out of shopping. We guarantee you will be delighted with our service, and not only will you never again plan a party without us, we anticipate you will be so hooked on the convenience we offer, that you will continue to buy groceries online into the future on a regular basis.

The Evolution of Tobacco

When you go out to buy cigarettes, or you log on to buy cigarettes online, do you ever stop to wonder how lust for tobacco came to be? Wonder no more... Tobacco has grown wild in the Americas for more than eight thousand years, and it has been cultivated for at least four hundred years.

Since at least two thousand years ago, native tribes chewed and smoked tobacco as part of their religious and cultural ceremonies. For example, the Mayans of Mexico carved drawings into stone which depict their tobacco use, and the Native American Indians smoked tobacco through a pipe as for ceremonial and medicinal purposes. It was not an activity done on a daily basis. Christopher Columbus was the first European to witness tobacco use, and in 1531 it was cultivated for the first time in Europe at Santo Domingo. By 1600 its use had spread throughout Europe, and it was used as a currency in England. Tobacco was the first crop grown for profit in North America, and by 1700, smoking had become widespread and the tobacco industry was born.

Tobacco smoking was not without its critics, even then. As early as 1602 smoking was linked to health in the same way that the health of chimney sweeps was impacted by soot. By 1800, many people used small amounts of tobacco recreationally. Snuff was a smokeless, ground tobacco leaf product which was inhaled into the nasal cavity; it was often blended with flavourings such as spices, flowers, and menthol, and delivered a swift nicotine hit. Some people chewed tobacco, while others preferred to smoke it from a pipe. At that time, people smoked an average equivalent of forty cigarettes per year. (Cigars are also a tobacco product, but are made differently, from a different type of tobacco, and have differing origins from cigarettes).

The first commercial cigarettes were made in 1861. They were hand-rolled, and were sold to soldiers at the end of the US Civil War.

Smoking cigarettes became widespread after the cigarette machine was invented by James Bonsack in 1881. The first machines produced two hundred cigarettes per minute (today’s machinery produces nine thousand cigarettes per minute!). In the first year, ten million cigarettes were produced. The markets were expanded, as manufacturing cigarettes was cheap and advertising appealed to the masses. The first brand of cigarettes, Duke of Durham, was boxed with baseball cards.

Cigarette production and use peaked with the two world wars. Soldiers were given free cigarettes on a daily basis. By the 1940s, women had also taken up the habit, as they went out to work while their husbands were away at war. By 1944, three hundred billion cigarettes were produced each year in the US alone.

In the decades since, cigarettes have evolved to include filters, differing strengths, health warnings, and even different flavours. Tobacco has come a very long way since it was first used thousands of years ago.

Next time you buy cigarettes, you should always consider your health and that of your family.

Enjoy Your Weekend – Let Someone Else Shop For You!

At Grocery Butler, having a great life balance is something we value highly. While we can’t speak for all of you, we’re fairly confident that most of our clients share similar values. In fact, we count on it!

A very good argument could be made that we only exist as a business because of society’s pursuit of a great life balance.

We live in the same world you do. Yes, we spend our days in the very same grocery stores that you want to avoid. And yes, when we deliver groceries to your door we drive in the same traffic that you do all you can to avoid. So you may ask yourselves; how can the team at Grocery Butler say they value having life balance when they choose to do the very things most people hate doing?

It’s a good question. And the answer is that we love to serve.

No, we don’t like supermarkets. And no, we don’t enjoy being stuck in traffic. But the difference between you and us is that we LOVE providing a great online grocery shopping experience for you and so we put up with the not-so-great parts of our job because we know it’s all for the greater good.

The weekly grind

You work hard Monday to Friday so that you can enjoy your time off, right? And as you daydream about the weekend during your weekday commute, what is it that you picture? We’re fairly sure it’s not supermarket aisles, that beeping noise at the checkout, car parks and shopping trolleys.

Why not leave all that to us?

By the time Friday evening rolls around; that’s your time. You’ve earned it, so kick back and buy your grocery products online. Then leave the rest to us.

Unfortunately we won’t clean your house for you but we’ll do the next best thing – you order your cleaning products online and we’ll deliver them (and the rest of your grocery needs) straight to your door. Fast. So fast you’ll have even more time than usual to procrastinate about cleaning until Monday!

Grocery Butler improves quality of life

Whether its surfing, hiking, dancing or dressing up like Gandalf and re-enacting battle scenes from Middle Earth, we are here to make sure that you have the maximum time available to enjoy your weekends in the way you want to.

Having a great life balance involves doing the hard part (working) so that you get to enjoy the good times like the weekends.

Our purpose at Grocery Butler is to make the great Australian weekend truly great. So get online grocery, get clicking and then switch off and leave the dirty work to us!

Buying Groceries Online In Melbourne

For car owners, paying for gas is a non-negotiable. And as we all know, petrol prices only trend one way – up! As it does, car owners continue to look for ways to lower their fuel costs in any way they can.

Saving even a few cents per litre makes all the difference. It all adds up, and every little bit counts.

Yes, from time to time prices do drop. And yes, there are fluctuations based on money markets and global events. But what is undeniable is that over time petrol prices rise. And they will continue to do so, we are sure of that.

And as we all know, large metropolitan areas always seem to be (mysteriously) saddled with the highest petrol prices. Melbourne is a prime example of this – consistently having some of the highest fuel prices in the country.

There are numerous strategies that intelligent car owners engage in as they search for ways to keep more money in their pockets and put less in the petrol pumps. Filling up on days of the week with cheaper prices is an obvious tactic, although harder done than said. Then there are the old chestnuts, like making sure your tyres are full of air, and not driving with heavy loads when you don’t absolutely have to.

And now there’s a new weapon to add to your arsenal in your fight against rising petrol prices – cheap groceries online from Grocery Butler!

Why take your own car and burn your own petrol on trips to stores and markets? 

Why use your own precious fuel when we are out there on the road every day all day using ours?

Transport is our game. It’s how we earn our crust and so it’s in our interest to know all the best tricks of the trade to make our petrol work harder, smarter and more efficiently.

Melbournites – stay off the roads, and stick to the information superhighway instead. Online Grocery Shopping Melbourne means you save on petrol costs and all the other ‘wear and tear’ car expenses you incur each and every time you turn the key in the ignition.

At Grocery Butler we use fuel-efficient vehicles, route planning technology and economies of scale to make sure that we purchase petrol at the best prices and then make it stretch as far as possible. The end result is savings – for you!

In order to bring you the most competitive online grocery prices, we are constantly mindful of how to keep our transport costs to a minimum. It’s an art form we practice every day, and are quickly perfecting.

For us at Grocery Butler, keeping petrol costs down requires a combination of many small techniques, processes and tricks which when all done together add up to produce great results.

For you as a Victorian shopper, you only need to know one trick to instantly make big savings on your weekly petrol costs. That trick is Grocery Butler!