About Water Storage
Fact: The average person can survive for three weeks without food, but only two days in temperatures of 120 degrees without water, and 10 days in more clement conditions of 50 degrees. No matter if you live in a 30 story high rise or a rural cabin in the woods, your first step towards survival preparedness should be a reliable source of water and a safe way to process it.
With regards to water and food storage, food preparation, alternate cooking methods, and calculating your storage food needs and its shelf life, there's a lot of ground to cover. Because food and water are critical to survival, my E-Book Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes delves into these issues at length.
Information on the rudiments of survival can be found here and will be added to as Survival Diva Blog posts continue. Links are also provided for bulk, dehydrated, and freeze dried food storage suppliers, storage do's and don'ts, alternative cooking methods, as well as links to calculate food storage amounts, recommended shelf life for specific food items, and much more.
The bare minimum of water requirements in an emergency situation is 28 gallons pr month per person. This is inclusive of two quarts of drinking water and two quarts of bathing and clean-up water. Considering the average person uses between 1,500 and 2,400 gallons of water each per month during normal times, the estimate of 28 gallons is an admittedly frugal recommendation, and is purely for bare sustenance purposes due to storage issues. If you have your heart set on bathing, I suggest you store more. Much more!
At the very least, one month’s worth of water should be stored for each member of your family or group, but that’s only workable when there is nearby water source and you have a quality water purifier available to process water for drinking, cooking, and clean up.
The following are methods to keep stored water safe for drinking
· Chlorine bleach with a 5.25% solution of sodium hypochlorite that does not contain soap additives or phosphates can be added to water for safe storage. Use a ratio of 1/8 teaspoon of chlorine bleach for each gallon of water.
· 2% Tenture of Iodine requires 12 drops for each gallon of water. Warning: pregnant women and those suffering with thyroid disease or other health risks should not drink water treated with iodine without consulting a physician. If you are unsure whether or not you are allergic to iodine, do not use this method.
· Ion is another way to preserve water. It is made of stabilized oxygen. Use 20 drops of Ion per gallon of water.
Your water storage should be changed approximately every 6 months, but in an emergency, treated water that has been left in containers longer still be safe to drink. If it tastes “flat”, pour water from one container to another a few times. This will be re-oxygenate the water and make it more palatable.
Determining What Type Of Food Storage Works Best For You
Buying smart starts with considering the best food storage plan for your circumstances, or you’ll find yourself calling for expensive do-overs. Do your preferences lean towards lining your storage shelves with long shelf life foods and then forgetting about them until they are needed? If so, then MRE’S, bulk, Dehydrated, and Freeze dried foods are the best choice. Many foods packed in hermetically sealed #10 cans have a shelf life of between 5 to 15 years. For wheat and white rice, the shelf life can be as much as 30 years when packaged in air-tight cans and stored a cool, dark, moisture free location.
If on the other hand, you are on a tight budget or tend more towards a hands-on sensibility, then canned goods might be the better choice. Most canned goods have a shelf life of between 1 - 2 years. This type of storage is managed with the use of a “rotation method”. All it requires is storing newer purchases to the back of storage shelves, and keeping older foods to the front (a first in, first out approach). Keep a close eye on the purchase dates you’ve written on your items and consume them before they reach the end of their shelf life. As items are consumed, they should be added to your buying list and replaced.
Fact: The average person can survive for three weeks without food, but only two days in temperatures of 120 degrees without water, and 10 days in more clement conditions of 50 degrees. No matter if you live in a 30 story high rise or a rural cabin in the woods, your first step towards survival preparedness should be a reliable source of water and a safe way to process it.
With regards to water and food storage, food preparation, alternate cooking methods, and calculating your storage food needs and its shelf life, there's a lot of ground to cover. Because food and water are critical to survival, my E-Book Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes delves into these issues at length.
Information on the rudiments of survival can be found here and will be added to as Survival Diva Blog posts continue. Links are also provided for bulk, dehydrated, and freeze dried food storage suppliers, storage do's and don'ts, alternative cooking methods, as well as links to calculate food storage amounts, recommended shelf life for specific food items, and much more.
The bare minimum of water requirements in an emergency situation is 28 gallons pr month per person. This is inclusive of two quarts of drinking water and two quarts of bathing and clean-up water. Considering the average person uses between 1,500 and 2,400 gallons of water each per month during normal times, the estimate of 28 gallons is an admittedly frugal recommendation, and is purely for bare sustenance purposes due to storage issues. If you have your heart set on bathing, I suggest you store more. Much more!
At the very least, one month’s worth of water should be stored for each member of your family or group, but that’s only workable when there is nearby water source and you have a quality water purifier available to process water for drinking, cooking, and clean up.
The following are methods to keep stored water safe for drinking
· Chlorine bleach with a 5.25% solution of sodium hypochlorite that does not contain soap additives or phosphates can be added to water for safe storage. Use a ratio of 1/8 teaspoon of chlorine bleach for each gallon of water.
· 2% Tenture of Iodine requires 12 drops for each gallon of water. Warning: pregnant women and those suffering with thyroid disease or other health risks should not drink water treated with iodine without consulting a physician. If you are unsure whether or not you are allergic to iodine, do not use this method.
· Ion is another way to preserve water. It is made of stabilized oxygen. Use 20 drops of Ion per gallon of water.
Your water storage should be changed approximately every 6 months, but in an emergency, treated water that has been left in containers longer still be safe to drink. If it tastes “flat”, pour water from one container to another a few times. This will be re-oxygenate the water and make it more palatable.
Determining What Type Of Food Storage Works Best For You
Buying smart starts with considering the best food storage plan for your circumstances, or you’ll find yourself calling for expensive do-overs. Do your preferences lean towards lining your storage shelves with long shelf life foods and then forgetting about them until they are needed? If so, then MRE’S, bulk, Dehydrated, and Freeze dried foods are the best choice. Many foods packed in hermetically sealed #10 cans have a shelf life of between 5 to 15 years. For wheat and white rice, the shelf life can be as much as 30 years when packaged in air-tight cans and stored a cool, dark, moisture free location.
If on the other hand, you are on a tight budget or tend more towards a hands-on sensibility, then canned goods might be the better choice. Most canned goods have a shelf life of between 1 - 2 years. This type of storage is managed with the use of a “rotation method”. All it requires is storing newer purchases to the back of storage shelves, and keeping older foods to the front (a first in, first out approach). Keep a close eye on the purchase dates you’ve written on your items and consume them before they reach the end of their shelf life. As items are consumed, they should be added to your buying list and replaced.
