We're fortunate to pass the 125th St. Fairway Market on our way home up the West Side bike path. With our "honey-do" list in hand, we locked up outside the store (Fairway provides several bike racks in front), and set out for dinner and a few essentials. The only drawback to the Dutch Shoppers is that they're designed to permanently attach to the bike rack with hidden buckles at the top and velcro wraps at the bottom. This makes them very secure, but you need to either carry re-useable shopping bags or go with less eco-friendly store plastic. In another report, we'll show you some alternative shopping panniers that lift right off the rack and can be carried into the store. The picture above shows the left pannier nearly full to capacity. Here's what fit:

Always load panniers with the heaviest items at the bottom. Here's a half-gallon of soy milk. Fairway has a pretty decent selection of organic produce and products, which we buy when we can.

On top of the soy milk are two liters of Vintage Seltzer (lemon-lime), and on top of the seltzer we have a pint of fresh goat cheese (in water), a pint of olives (pitted Kalamata), a pound of fresh shrimp (extra-large, shelled) and about a pound of crushed ice on top of the shrimp.

We put about a pound of crushed ice on top of the shrimp, along with a loaf of bread, a three-pack of organic hearts of romaine, and about a pint of organic radishes.

Topping it all off are three lemons, a vidalia onion, and two avocados. That pretty much maxed out the pannier, but of course that was only one side.

The Axiom Dutch Shopper Panniers in rust. Seen from the front, they have a swept-back section to prevent heel-bang, large storm flaps with the adjustable double buckles, and reflective stripes on the back. One nice feature of these panniers is that they sit below the rack, so you could easily add a trunk bag for additional capacity.

One pannier holds all these groceries comfortably. Load up both sides and you can easily hold dinner for four or supplies for a couple of days.