Don't forget the gramophone!http://www.musicswapshoppe.com/images/picnic.jpg

I just place stuff in small empty spaces around the bike. Two things which I have found help a lot:

1) Buy tortillas instead of bread. Not damaged by being crushed or folded. Any other "dense" bread works almost as well.

2) Carry a small container just barely big enough to carry a piece of fruit. I use my cup for this purpose as it is just big enough for a large apple, peach, pear, etc. A short-term alternative on the road is a small paper cup from a fast food restaurant. Prevents the worst of the damage.

Everything else can normally be placed anywhere and I don't care much if it gets crushed a bit.

If it wasnt for the black and white, I'd of sworn that was taken at Ripley !!

Ted, our current set up http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6643871_n.jpg
So we have room for a small shallow topbox type affair or something for the pannier lids but both bikes will have 25 ltr boxes next time. (the XCH has 31 ltr at the mo)

Cheers
Pete

ahhh, I misunderstood.. I though you only had roll bags !! Well, if you have room for a small topbox, just put a small coolbox in one like suggested !!

I guess you could also keep empty pelican type cases bolted ontop of your side panniers, only to be filled near your destination with lovely grub & ale !! jeiger

I'm going Pelican case with a fabric cool bag inside (appox 50% of the box size).
I was just hoping that someone out there would have posted " get an xyz, cut it in half, turn it upside down, bolt an abc along side it and you'll have exactly what your looking for. By the way here are a few pics of one I made last night out of carbon fibre for £0.10".

Cheers
Pete
(Three guesses what the next post is :biggrin3:)

Our preferred method is dry foods (pasta, rice, cous-cous,packet soups,etc..) in Tuppaware type square box -as perfect a fit as possible to maximize space usage - right at the bottom of the pannier , then non- squashy foods in another container next followed by all the squashy, soft stuff on top as it's usually what we snack on in between main mealtimes. I've lined our panniers (alloy) with camping mat type foam to give a bit if insulation from the direct heat but it still gets hot in there of course (try opening the cheese box after a long day....PHEW!), so we only buy enough fresh stuff that we can eat within a couple of days.

You may find that dried foods, stored in plastic bags are the most space-efficient way of packing.

Boxes are actually the least efficient, because as they empty, there is a lot of space left unused. Halfway through the capacity of your Tupperware boxes, 50% of your space is wasted.

Plastic bags take the shape of wherever you store them, so are very efficient, the best possible. And they weigh less, and are free along the trip.

:scooter:

Cam,
I agree about the boxes but if I pack and use boxes the space stays the same, if I pack with bags I'm never really sure how much space I have!
Not sure that sentence makes sense?
It's a bit like having your waterproofs in the pannier, then it rains so waterproofs are now worn, loads of space in the panniers but you can't use it because the waterproofs have to go back in when the sun comes out.

We'll I know what I mean :eek3: beer

Pete

Hi P

If you have a rigid box, full of say pasta, and you use half the pasta over a day or two, then you have a half empty box to lug around. When it's empty, it still takes up the space it did when full.

If you use a plastic bag, it never has wasted space because it forms round whatever remains. So it's 100% efficient, where box only works efficiently when full.

I think you knew that...:biggrin:

:scooter:

Cam,
That's what I was getting at my friend, OK now you have all this space (because you food "bags" are empty) for 24 hours until you stop tomorrow morning to stock up on the few days food, what use is all that free space? It's just free space for a short period of time.
We had a similar problem with dirty laundry, I carried it in my panniers, so some days I could hardly close the lid, other days I had 10 litres of spare space. Solution : I carried my dirty laundry and my wife carried hers. Nothing changed in the panniers.

Cheers
Pete

With the price of Barbours being so high, who can afford a spare?:scared:
I haven't had a PM for yonks ,are you sure it's not your imaginary friend telling you these things?:wacko:

Enjoy the cherries!:thumbup:

OK!:thumbup:

If you use boxes that stack inside each other when not in use, you'll have more room for your mucky washing when it's not raining.

Cheers guys.
Getting back on track I'm not worried about space (well sort of), just a functional mobile larder. beerjeiger:scooter: