I am setting up my bike for a 2 months tour (possibly a much smaller one beforehand as well). Last tour, I had all the load at the rear rack and a small handlebar bag at the front. Since this tour will be in more remote areas, I am looking into adding a front rack to store just food and maybe a little more water. The idea is also to have a therm-insulated bag that is easily removable, so I can keep the food cool and in a safe place overnight. There should be enough clearance under the handlebar bag to fit something like this
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...k8BUchXRoSUCk3

I went through a few shops this morning and I didn't manage to find a long enough front rack to fit such a bag, or a small enough bag to fit in these racks. On top of that, a salesman in one of the shops, was extremely against the idea of adding the load there, rather than using two panniers much lower at the fork.

I definitely don't want the two panniers option for various reasons... and I do understand the drawback of adding weight high at the front wheel.

What's your take on this? Has anyone used both at once?