My go-to until about 4 1/2 years ago was a really large messenger bag - like the kind that actual bike messengers use. I lived in a place with bad water for a bit, and was easily able to carry one of those 2.5 gallon containers, along with a few other groceries.

Bulky stuff, like toilet paper and paper towels? No problem - the straps can be used to secure all sorts of stuff to the outside of the bag (just make sure it's not raining that day!) Bread can be done this way, too - just take an extra bag (cloth or plastic) and hook it through the shoulder strap so that it hangs over the back, outside the actual messenger bag.

Eventually, I upgraded to a trailer, though I still use my messenger if I'm picking up smaller quantities of stuff.

I guess it's a bit late but it's not too hard to select denser more durable food. Tortillas not bread, dry beans not canned, definitely not boxed and frozen, etc. It's also not against the rules to fill your belly away from home so you don't need to bring your food home. I'd say tolerate the tap water but I know some people are really sensitive about the flavor of water. Maybe get a Brita pitcher. Grocery delivery is definitely a viable option. We do E-Cart pretty often to avoid trolling through the store with our twins, the delivery service just puts those bags in a fridge truck. Or there may be a gig app for that now.

We often tell newbies to get an inexpensive bike with a lot of adaptability like a hybrid because it can be configured every which way but if you already know what you like, use it.

One can make own bread very easily, water, all purpose flour, salt and yeast, much tastier and fresher and probably healthier and definitely much cheaper, 1st or second time baking you might produce brick blocks but you'd figure our rise time and temperature for rising before putting it in the oven for actual Baking, nothing beats the taste of a slice freshly baked bread with a little spread of butter, use your favorite search engine for "No Knead dough" bread recipe, a fun thing to do

Yep, I do this almost every day (and it's definitely not that hard - I am not a great cook.) I used to haul the flour in my trailer, but since discovering that Target will ship free on orders of $35+, I just order flour and yeast online and it comes to my house.

Unless you have a job or classes to attend

Bread baking was devised to avoid working on your studies. It's called productive procrastination.

Baking your own bread is very much in spirit of bicycle commuting being independant and relying on your own (biology) to get yourself to work and back while having fun doing it, and it doesn't take that long. The clue was "No-Knead".

It doesn't take much time when you add it up, but you have to be home for three hours, so it takes planning. Or at least you have to get back home after each rise. I wouldn't leave home while the oven is on. I knead my dough for 20 minutes or I have my bread machine do it for me.

I use the bread machine for the knead cycle and the first rise. Then I punch the dough down and put it in a regular loaf pan for the second rise. Then I bake it in the oven. That's good sandwich bread, and it's barely any more work than using a bread machine for the whole process.

I also use the bread machine for making challah dough. Braiding the dough isn't hard, but it's so beautiful that people think I'm an expert.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IX...=w1290-h964-no

[MENTION=326413]darth[/MENTION]_Lefty: Even though sometimes, but not always, bike commuting might be slower and take longer time away from our other activities, but few minutes every few days for mixing 2 cups of bread dough shouldn't conflict with your work and/or your classes baking oven would do the rest next night in 40 minutes or so while you are doing other things. My post was just a suggestion for the OP, I love pedaling 12 miles to my 10 hours work day and back every day and I mix my bread dough in 2 minutes after work for next night bake, I realize some people may not enjoy baking or cooking as much, no problem.

I'm the king of tangents and thread drift, but this bread baking thing is silly. I know, I went down that tangent myself, but why are we trying to convince a college student to bake bread? Do we really believe he can't afford not to bake bread?

1st, get something other than a BMX bike .. since they were not intended to take baskets and racks ,
or get creative and figure out how to mount said basket on the handlebars..

baskets

Took me a while to get back I was kneading bread.LoL. I'm going to make some bread in the next few days. If not bread at least pizza dough. Nothing better than a home made pizza pie. Thanks for that idea. Here is my cooking tip, if you don't have any tomato sauce, salsa tastes awesome in pizza. It makes it kind of spicy, and adds texture.

E.T. phone home. With a basket on the bmx I could really fly.... Anyways, I don't think the bmx will be getting baskets anytime soon. Y'all mentioning baskets reminded me of a homeless dude I saw riding on a bmx bike. He had three milk crates strapped to the front of his bars. Three crates wide. I don't even know how he could ride that thing. The crates were wider than the bars. It was quite a spectacle.

I followed the advise of putting the bread at the top of my pack, and I made it home just fine. No problems there, no squished bread. I find it quite pleasant riding home with a pack full of cold stuff. Its like an air conditioned bike ride. Especially in this heat. I realized I really don't need anymore room than a backpack. With the budget I'm, on completely filling my pack would cost more than I want to spend on a trip to the store.

I'm going to pick up another bike sometime this week for my daily commuter. If I remember right my choices are a Trek 820 antelope, or an older Specialized Hard Rock. I think I'm going to use the Trek even though it needs a real good going through, full rebuild. The Specialized is much cleaner, but the Trek has one hell of a backstory.

Btw, that's one fancy loaf of bread.

Good going on all the bike commuting!

And thank you. As I said, it looks hard, but it's easy. I learned the braiding technique from youtube.

N+1 time..

get another style of bicycle .... BMX aint getting it done..

[MENTION=485841]Radical Rick[/MENTION], I thought of you yesterday. I went shopping (on foot) at supermarket which is a quarter mile from home. I carried a big duffle bag. The cashier packed it really well. I put the handles over my shoulder, and the bag was partly on my side and partly on my bike. I think I could have ridden a bike in this position though a little clumsily.

Funny, I just baked a loaf overnight and put it away this morning. They say the breadmaker is a prime candidate for most people to ditch to save counter space, but I use it weekly year round.

Anyway, I commute on a 20 inch cruiser and take groceries in for breakfast and lunch at the office. Large backpack, I'm only going 3 miles. I have it down to a science, the clerks watch me pack that thing to the gills and I buy the exact amount that will fit every time. Weight is not the issue, it is space and how crush-able the items are. Bread is non-starter, so tortillas are substituted. Bags of chips are too much wasted space, so Pringles it is, or pretzel rods. You get the idea.

[/QUOTE].... Bread is non-starter, so tortillas are substituted. .... [/QUOTE]

Whole wheat (or white) pita bread makes for a great PJ or Cheese melt sandwitch as well, and keeps in freezer fine also,

I just made a store run the the clerk was awestruck that I choose to ride my bike to the store. The dude who bagged my groceries thought it was real cool I chose the bike over the truck. He was telling me of all the benefits of doing so. Again I had to hear how my groceries wouldn't all fit in my pack. I had room to spare today, but will say those water bottle nets on the sides of my pack hold cans, and jars really well.

I have a system for selecting groceries. I use one of those carry around baskets, and allow myself to fill it halfway up then I get half gal of milk. Its a fail safe plan leaving some extra room in the pack. I now shop in terms of dimensions, not by quantity, or throwing random things in a cart that look appealing. One pack is about twenty dollars worth of groceries. In doing this I'm saving money, and eating healthier. There is no room for extra junk food in my pack.

I'm still trying to figure out the best in pack arrangement for an assortment of groceries. I think the crush-able stuff needs to go on top. Today I managed to crush my tortillas, but they were crushed flat-ways so it really didn't matter. I flattened out a pound of ground beef, but I planned on making burgers anyway so that's okay. I slightly crushed a peach, but I had planned on eating it when I got home anyway so that didn't really matter much.

Speaking of junk food. What is the consensus on gatorade, and powerade? I tend to shy away from these as they usually contain lots of sugar, and fructose corn syrup. I wondering if there is any benefit to re-hydrating with them. I've been using coconut water but its expensive. Someone told me just drink water, and eat crackers. Crackers are electrolytes they said. I don't know how true that is though. Any thoughts here?

I was thinking of buying a new pack the other day, but I couldn't find one I liked. I need a bigger pack, but I don't really need to haul anymore. The pack I have now is great. Its like a cross between a camping/climbing pack. It has one main compartment, a small front pouch, bottle holders, and loops for a mat. The only downside is no place for a computer. I'm looking for a pack similar to this with a computer pouch. I cant seem to find one like what I'm looking for.

Problem: Need to haul groceries home from the store. Rides a BMX bike that cannot accept panniers. Doesn't want to crush the bread. Needs to haul bottled water to last a few days.

Desired solution: Take care of this grocery shopping errand by bike. But this desire doesn't negate the problems expressed above.

Solution: Hire an Uber for a few bucks. Once you're done with your shopping, and the groceries are safely stowed in the fridge, go out and tool around some more on your BMX bike.

(Maybe this whole thread is just a joke. Who uses their BMX bike for grocery shopping and is afraid of crushed bread and cannot do without bottled water for a few days?)

Another home baker here. We're at the point where the kids don't like store-bought bread any more, or they're so picky that they only choose the stuff that's 5 bucks a loaf. Now my son has gotten into it, and we can count on him to take care of one or two kneadings, or making dough for pizza night, which is every Saturday.

About bottled water, we lived in Texas for a while. The tap water gets kinda funky after a rainstorm. I installed an inline charcoal filter with a little spigot of its own in the kitchen sink. That might be easier than transporting bottled water if the taste is the issue.

If you want a sweet drink, you could make it from some kind of powder. That also eliminates filling the landfill with bottles.

We live about 1/4 mile from a supermarket, but it's kinda upscale. Here's what we do. Every few weeks, we drive out to the huge discount supermarket in the outskirts, and fill the car with non perishables, toilet paper, etc. Then we make frequent trips -- sometimes even once or twice in a day if we run out of something or change our minds about the supper menu -- to the nearby store for veggies and other odds and ends. There's also a Target nearby, possibly the only bike-friendly Target in the country. Having those places close at hand helps avoid the habit of stocking up on stuff that clutters our house.

To answer that question. I use a BMX for groceries, I'm afraid of crushing my bread, and I can't live without suitable drinking water. No joke.

Who would spend their money on a loaf of crushed bread? Not everybody in this world has the luxury of drinkable water right out of their tap. Its not about the luxury of taste, its about the presence of hazardous chemical contaminants in the water.

Ever since I fixed my truck I haul large heavy items like water, and so forth. I only need the truck maybe once a week now. After taking up cycle commuting I'm beginning to see less of a need for an automobile. For me its more economical to use the store nearby even tough the prices are higher. Why is this you ask? It takes lots of gas, and stress to go to the cheaper store across town. Sometimes it just ends up being cheaper to pay more. I also get to bike to the store nearby.

Not everyone in this world has it so easy. We should do our part to make this world a better place. A better place than we found it. If everyone in this world did only one thing to make another persons life better there would be no more problems.

It's sounding like things are figured out, but I'm still scratching my head over the water thing... I get that the water maybe contaminated, but why not buy a filtration system? Is there a strengthening benefit to hauling gallons of water that interests you?

You didn't ask, but if it were me, I'd get a water test kit (they're inexpensive) and get the information I need to make a decision on the level of filtration I desire. As was pointed out earlier, it's less wasteful, less expensive and wouldn't require me to haul water.

Furthermore, if the water turns out to be toxic, the citizenry need to be informed and changes need to be made. The water services provided by your city are subsidized by YOUR tax dollars. Clean drinking water is not a luxury and as a tax payer you SHOULD feel entitled to it. It's not good enough that bottled water can be purchased elsewhere, you deserve clean water because you're PAYING for it!

As a commuter myself, I do admit to feeling pride when hauling groceries or sweating my way to work rain or shine. When I first started years ago the pride was felt more acutely and I'm embarrassed to admit to an amount of humble-bragging about it. So keep up the cause and reap the benefits of your active lifestyle for years to come!