Posted on 11/16/2013 6:32:36 PM PST by dynachrome
You have your 1,000 pounds of wheat. Your 500 gallons of water and enough ammo to make Chuck Norris jealous but the question remains, are you truly prepared? Just because you’ve been prepping for twenty years doesn’t mean you haven’t made some mistakes along the way. It’s not enough to just have your emergency food storage, you have to be able to store it, eat it and even move it if things really get crazy.
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...
I’ll have flour and corn tortillas and the corn ones will be made with cornmeal I have professionally stored. No masa.
My grandad had a couple of wooden water buckets when I was a small kid. There was about fifty cents in silver coins in each bucket. We never dumped the coins out because they were used to stop bacteria from growing in the bottom of the pails. I don’t know how it worked but it did.
I believe you can get the smell out using baking soda. A quarter cup of soda to a full gallon. Let sit for a day or two then rinse. Should have a fresh smell. If not repeat. But I still wouldn’t use one. Somehow the milk gets into the pores of the jug and you can’t get it out. You can get those blue cast jugs at WalMart where the water machine is. I think the gallon jugs are a buck and a quarter. They have several sizes.
I almost never throw out a plastic container. If it’s a 2 liter pop bottle, it gets filled with water. If it’s a gallon or half gallon orange juice grapefruit juice container, it gets rinsed and filled. If its a gallon or 96 or 64 ounce laundry soap container, it gets filled. (hint with the soap containers: don’t rinse them! Now you have good, soapy water if U need it).
My ROT (Rule of thumb) is if it held a food substance when it was real, it’s potable water.
If it held soap or antifreeze or anything non-food, use it as washwater or flushing or whatever.
I must have 200 gallons stored and my aim is to get alot more.
And a lot of people got sick and died
You are being quite overdramatic.
Humans were drinking surface water for a long, long, long time.
Way before Berkey water filters were invented!
And actually, much of North America has a limestone/shale geology which is about as perfect a filtration/decontamination system as naturally exists.
I'm so glad you posted about them...I had been buying square gal water. Thanks ;)
Bad water kills whereever people are even today. Any ground water has the potential of being contaminated. Well water is usually safe because its been filtered.
Yes sand and earth will act as filters. To discount the dangers of bad water is just ignorant.
Not with most forms of alcohol. If it’s under 100 proof it’s not gonna burn - so don’t sell anyone anything over that.
You have two hundred gallons, that is commendable. May I suggest going to bakers and getting Teflon coated 55 gallon drums? In the 90’s we got them from a bread bakery. Perfect for water storage. As long as they are kept sealed, they should be containment free. Get some chlorine test tablets and use common pure bleach as a disinfectant. A few drops of bleach should show proper test results in a gallon of water.
Today more people would get sick and die as compared to the 1800’s when drinking from contaminated streams, ponds or wells.
Our immune systems have been severely degraded by trying to be too pure.
But in the case of the 1800’s and before they either did not know any better or had no choice.
In a SHTF scenario, many will not have a choice. What will kill many city dwellers is when the power goes off is lift stations will run out of emergency generator fuel, pumps will stop, sewage will back up into low lying basements and eventually cross contaminate whatever remaining water supplies exist. Things will really get ugly when people start dying from raw sewage contaminated water.
I’m not discounting anything about the dangers of bad water, and am quite offended by your statement.
Dysentery can kill you. Does that exist in most surface water in America?
Nope.
Cholera can kill you. Does that exist in most surface water in America?
Nope.
Giardia can kill you, although it takes many years sometimes. Does that exist in most surface water in America?
Nope. But it DOES exist in my locale.
Lead and other heavy metal contaminants can kill you. Does that exist in most surface water in America?
Nope. However, it does exist in deserts and near industrialized sites.
I’ve drank surface water (streams, lakes, ponds) since I was a kid. Do I do it every day? No. But I am prepared to do it if need be, I have gallons of bleach and quarts of iodine solution stashed.
You can freak out over water all you want. But don’t call me ignorant. You sound like the type who would be so scared to drink it that finally, you would just crack and start sucking down water near where people have died or been puking or whatever.
Fine. Have it your way.
BTW, I’m near 60, the ethanol will kill me way before whatever’s mixed in the H2O!
Plastic containers have a recycling triangle on them with a number inside of it. This will tell you if they are food grade or not. It’s best to stick with slick plastics for water storage. There are not porous. Empty bleach bottles work great.
That’s why I stick to the food container rule. If it’s a bottle food came in, it’s safe to use.
The exception being milk bottles. I have never found a way to get rid of the eventually rancid milk smell.
Someone told me once the milk proteins bind to the plastic and there is no way to clean it totally.
So I just pitch them.
Be careful with juice containers as well. Some can be used, some can’t. I mention that for those who may not know.
Oh, and BTW, being a home brewmaster who makes beer and cider, I’m well familiar with the processes of disinfecting/sterilizing containers.
Home brewing is a great hobby!
If you have water and you are unsure if it’s safe, you can always add a bunch of sugar and yeast and ferment it!
Bathtub gin!
I freeze water in 2 liter bottles. Helps keep the freezer filled up and save energy as well as having a back-up of water available.
If you see cheap plastic tarps on sale grab a couple. Lay them out in the rain and get free water.
If you see cheap plastic tarps on sale grab a couple. Lay them out in the rain and get free water.
The water I buy has a use by date stamped on it, and it is generally good for a year. I only keep about 25 gallons of bottled water because we have a well, and two back up generators that can be used to run the pump.
Our holding tank is 30 gallons, and the water heater is 50 gallons.
We also have a bunch of rainwater that we could treat if we needed to, and I have the treatment and filtering materials to do so.
My in laws and I have sixty gallons of Mustang Grape wine sitting in carboys right now. We’re emptying the wine bottles we need, glass by glass.
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