Weekly food shop... on your bike?

[confusedcyclist]

Is anyone here managing to do their weekly food shop on their bike? I'm working towards being 100% car free, and the food shop is the last bastion of my regular car use. If I can nail the weekly food shop, I'm pretty confident I can go car free, and for the odd occasion where a car is needed, I could rent. If I can rid myself of my car lease, I'll be £333 better off a month, that's one hell of a pay rise.

Yes, I could do home delivery, but that wouldn't be carbon free and in my mind would be cheating. My dad has an older touring bike with rack I could pinch, just need to fit a set of panniers. I have some pretty hefty climbs on the route back from my nearest supermarket and I am nervous about overloading and being stranded! On the plus side, the weight is going to up the ride intensity so I can only get fitter!

Obviously the answer is start small, and work my way up to a bigger load to see how it goes, but I'm just interested to hear your stories on how you are managing your weekly shop?

I think I would have to change some habits, no more 2 litre cartons of juice/milk/diet coke, and accept I will need to drop by the local shops for more milk etc mid week. Any tips?

 

[DCLane]

What about a trailer:

I'm sure some on here have/use them?

 

[confusedcyclist]

[QUOTE 3296618, member: 259"]Yep. You might need to do another beer run though[/QUOTE]
Funnily enough this was the first thought (fear) that popped into my head. What would I do without beer! Still, what better excuse to get out on the bike Saturday AM!

What about a trailer:
I'm sure some on here have/use them?

Trailer would be a luxury for me at this stage, just in case it doesn't work out! That said, I do keep an eye out on gumtree for a used trailer/bargain as it is something I have considered

 

[simon the viking]

I'd love to be able to car free... but Mrs V won't let me.... (she doesn't drive...)

 

[annedonnelly]

What size family are you buying for? I'm single and do (nearly) all my shopping by bike. Used to do it all at the weekend, but lately I'm buying more near work during the week and so buy less at the supermarket at the weekend.

The only time I use the car is an occasional trip to a farm shop - I can cycle to it, but the route is a little scary so I try to fit a visit in with using the car for something else.

Take your panniers into the shop with you. They should hook into the trolley. Pack straight from the checkout into the panniers. Heavy stuff goes in first and try to balance them up. Some things - e.g. huge packs of toilet rolls - are light but bulky. Try to get them when you're not doing a full shop.

Good luck!!

 

[TheDoctor]

I've done car-free, and tend not to use a car for shopping now. I have a trike available, which helps, and I can usually manage a weeks shop one way or another. Of course, shopping doesn't have to be a once a week thing...

 

[Soltydog]

I have a friend who is car free & does all his shopping on a bike courtesy of http://www.xtracycle.com/#cargo-bicycles

 

[Keith Oates]

The main problem I envisage is not so much how to load the bike to carry the actual shopping but how to secure the bike so that it's still there when you come out of the supermarket.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I've tried with many sorts of bicycles, but the touring bicycle and panniers work out best. I hauled 2 gallons of water and groceries from my admittedly nearby (3 mi) supermarket which has access from the walking and biking trail. I've used both front and rear panniers, and the bike handles pretty well if you would distribute the weight properly. (2/3 rear, 1/3 front, and balanced from side to side. Winter may be dodgy, though....

 

[Ganymede]

I do my veg shopping by bike from the local (3.5 miles) farm shop. I strap a stout cardboard box or large basket onto the rack with bungees and sometimes add a rucksack. There's only me and Mr G but we eat a lot of veg and I've done this shopping for a weekend when I've had a houseful of people too. The shop also does game from the freezer.

We are lucky that we only need to go to the supermarket once every 2 or 3 weeks - we bulk-buy dry goods and usually use the car, and I do think if you have a family then heavier dry goods are the challenge. But I also (like @annedonnelly) have found that I am a more opportunistic shopper now - I cycle to my parents' village which has a wet fish shop, a good greengrocer, a chemist and a small Sainsbury's so often pick up odd bits. Including, recently, a whole turbot which I had to bungee directly to the rack as it was an impulse buy...

We also have a milkman and buy bread and a few other bits at our village shop where we go every day to pick up the paper - we're dead old-fashioned really!

 

[coffeejo]

It's a 12 mile round trip to the nearest supermarket and I go maybe once a week, sometimes more often as I invariably forget something. I also make use of the shops in the village to get stuff like milk and since we're lucky enough to have a superb butcher's, that's where I get all my meat. I also get assorted tasty morsels from farmers' markets if I happen to be in the right place at the right time.

No car, just the bike and panniers (or shank's pony and my rucksack if it's the village).

 

[hoopdriver]

I walk to the shops with the knapsack, preferring that to leaving my bike unguarded. It's probably safe, but why take the chance especially since I can just as easily - more easily in fact - do it on foot.

 

[EltonFrog]

How about buying an old post office bike, they have a large carrier at the front, plenty big enough I would have thought for most folks weekly shop?

 

[annedonnelly]

I do my veg shopping by bike from the local (3.5 miles) farm shop. I strap a stout cardboard box or large basket onto the rack with bungees and sometimes add a rucksack. There's only me and Mr G but we eat a lot of veg and I've done this shopping for a weekend when I've had a houseful of people too. The shop also does game from the freezer.

We are lucky that we only need to go to the supermarket once every 2 or 3 weeks - we bulk-buy dry goods and usually use the car, and I do think if you have a family then heavier dry goods are the challenge. But I also (like @annedonnelly) have found that I am a more opportunistic shopper now - I cycle to my parents' village which has a wet fish shop, a good greengrocer, a chemist and a small Sainsbury's so often pick up odd bits. Including, recently, a whole turbot which I had to bungee directly to the rack as it was an impulse buy...

We also have a milkman and buy bread and a few other bits at our village shop where we go every day to pick up the paper - we're dead old-fashioned really!

That's great - you're also supporting the local tradesmen rather than the supermarket.

 

[swee'pea99]

Is there any other forum on which people would post about impulse-buying a turbot?