Hi there....have you Googled cricket breeders ? You'll see who is closest to you. There is a breeder " coldbloods.com " in Kingston Ma., so they're not too far from you + have decent prices. You will be best off buying 500 or 1,000, and you can keep them in the plastic bin you mentioned. The crix will be shipped in a box that contains egg crating, so you'll have those. As a warning though, wait until this extreme weather has past, crix probably won't survive being shipped in this but once it's back in the 20's + 30's they'll be fine. If your crix come in cold, let them warm up near a heater....sometimes they all appear to be dead and after 30 minutes or so they come around.