diff --git a/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile b/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
index 776a03601397..f7045f1d7ab0 100644
--- a/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/kicbase/Dockerfile
@@ -4,39 +4,55 @@ ARG COMMIT_SHA
 # could be changed to any debian that can run systemd
 FROM kindest/base:v20200430-2c0eee40 as base
 USER root
-# specify version of everything explicitly using 'apt-cache policy'
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+
+# remove files that were installed by kind, replaced by packages
+RUN rm \
+    /etc/crictl.yaml \
+    /etc/systemd/system/containerd.service \
+    /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/containerd.service \
+    /opt/cni/bin/host-local \
+    /opt/cni/bin/loopback \
+    /opt/cni/bin/portmap \
+    /opt/cni/bin/ptp \
+    /usr/local/bin/containerd \
+    /usr/local/bin/containerd-shim \
+    /usr/local/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2 \
+    /usr/local/bin/crictl \
+    /usr/local/bin/ctr \
+    /usr/local/sbin/runc
+
+# install system requirements from the regular distro repositories
+RUN clean-install \
     lz4 \
     gnupg \ 
     sudo \
     docker.io \
+    containerd \
     openssh-server \
     dnsutils \
     runc \
     # libglib2.0-0 is required for conmon, which is required for podman
-    libglib2.0-0 \
-    # removing kind's crictl config
-    && rm /etc/crictl.yaml
+    libglib2.0-0
 
 # Install cri-o/podman dependencies:
 RUN sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable.list" && \ 
     curl -LO https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key && \
-    apt-key add - < Release.key && apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends containers-common catatonit conmon containernetworking-plugins podman-plugins varlink
+    apt-key add - < Release.key && \
+    clean-install containers-common catatonit conmon containernetworking-plugins cri-tools podman-plugins varlink
 
 # install cri-o based on https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/commit/96b0c34b31a9fc181e46d7d8e34fb8ee6c4dc4e1#diff-04c6e90faac2675aa89e2176d2eec7d8R128
 RUN sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable:/cri-o:/1.18:/1.18.3/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable.list" && \
     curl -LO https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable:/cri-o:/1.18:/1.18.3/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key && \
-    apt-key add - < Release.key && apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends cri-o=1.18.3~3
+    apt-key add - < Release.key && \
+    clean-install cri-o=1.18.3~3
 
 # install podman
 RUN sh -c "echo 'deb https://dl.bintray.com/afbjorklund/podman focal main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/podman.list" && \
     curl -L https://bintray.com/user/downloadSubjectPublicKey?username=afbjorklund -o afbjorklund-public.key.asc && \
-    apt-key add - < afbjorklund-public.key.asc && apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends podman=1.9.3~1
+    apt-key add - < afbjorklund-public.key.asc && \
+    clean-install podman=1.9.3~1
 
-RUN mkdir -p /usr/lib/cri-o-runc/sbin && cp /usr/local/sbin/runc /usr/lib/cri-o-runc/sbin/runc
+RUN mkdir -p /usr/lib/cri-o-runc/sbin && cp /usr/sbin/runc /usr/lib/cri-o-runc/sbin/runc
 
 COPY entrypoint /usr/local/bin/entrypoint
 # automount service
@@ -71,12 +87,7 @@ USER root
 # https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/blob/master/images/base/files/usr/local/bin/entrypoint
 RUN mkdir -p /kind
 # Deleting leftovers
-RUN apt-get clean -y && rm -rf \
-  /var/cache/debconf/* \
-  /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-  /var/log/* \
-  /tmp/* \
-  /var/tmp/* \
+RUN rm -rf \
   /usr/share/doc/* \
   /usr/share/man/* \
   /usr/share/local/* \