Originally Posted by
bikenh
I use kitty liter buckets, getting much harder to find now since everyone has switched over to pour buckets versus the nice ones they used to use. They are the perfect size for a bike and you can get them for free. Add a little mounting hardware and you have your hard shell panniers which are water proof as an added bonus. I don't waste money unless I just have to. More money = more money to travel with/travel longer with.
I made a pair myself like this. They are awesome for going to the grocery store and loading up, running loads of laundry down to a laundromat, and make awesome utility panniers, but I wouldn't tour with these. Also, long term, I am going to need to keep finding lids as they wear out from flipping them up and down unless I figure out a DIY solution for it long term. Also, they are not as easy to find if you don't know anyone with cats. I searched high and low and it wasn't an easy task. I could find them online for about $15 a container shipped to me. They cost about $15 full at a Pet Smart. So I went down to pet smart, waited for someone to buy the kind I needed, and made them a deal. I would buy one extra one for them, we dump them out, and I keep the containers. The woman I pitched it too thought about it for a long minute and then realized she had extra trash bags in her car that we could dump them into and instantly jumped on it. So bring some heavy duty garbage bags with you so there is no real thought into it and they realize they are getting twice the amount for the price of one, it's a good deal. You get two of them for cheaper then what you can have them shipped to you online for that are already emptied and never used. Outside of that, I couldn't find them anywhere and I was checking Craigslist, ebay, local restaurants for their food containers, and even restaurant supply warehouses. The only way I could find them was to offer to buy one for someone to get the containers.