$4 Grocery Paniers for Your Bike

One of the easiest trips that people can make by bike, is to the grocery store. With the use of reusable bags, people can typically get out of a simple grocery trip with 2 bags of stuff. Without store bought paniers, it can be difficult and dangerous to transport these groceries by bicycle. Below is a cheap and easy way to make homemade paniers to help on these short trips.

The materials are really simple:

• 2 reusable grocery bags
• 1/4" thick 2'x4' piece of masonite (or "hardboard" at Home Depot; same stuff used for clipboards)
• 1 bungee cord

You can find the reusable bags at many places now, but possible places include Publix, Target, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Meijer, Walmart, Kroger, and Ikea. They also make insulated ones which would be great for refrigerated items.

Tip: You can get a piece of the wood deeply discounted if you look for one that's damaged.

Cut some of the wood to fit into the bags:

Staple the wood inside the bags to keep them in place.

Then cut two of the handles in the middle:

Sew the bags together:

Then, throw them over your bike rack!

Use a bungee to keep them in place, and voila! You have lightweight panniers that fold down flat and that you can take into the store with you!

Sure beats paying $50+ for ones from the bike shop. You could probably make them even stronger by double-bagging, since by now all of us probably have about 12 of these give-away canvas bags piled up in our closets.