Water Storage

Have you ever had your water turned off for even a few hours? Ugggg. It is a pain. We have water stored in 50 gallon buckets, but it seems like a pain open them up and I am sure the water tastes like plastic!! I bought a five gallon container with a spout which seemed a little easier. Well, last year the man in charge of the water supply for Mesa AZ came to speak to our stake. His name is Alan Martindale. Wow!! It was really amazing. He discussed various ways to store water, but he told us the BEST way to store drinking water is to buy water bottles. How easy!! They are actually less expensive than buying larger containers. They are easy to share with neighbors too. You can still buy larger containers for hygiene needs. This is a synopsis of what we learned. Pleeease go buy water!! I usually buy it when it is $2.oo - $2.50 per flat.

Water Storage

14 gallons per person (for a two week supply)

To store drinking water use: Water Bottles!!!!!!!!!!

They store indefinitely and are inexpensive.

Buy a flat every time they are on sale.

You don’t have to exchange the water. Just keep it sealed.

You can use 2 or 3 liter plastic pop bottles. They are great to store water in (add five drops of bleach to the cleaned out bottle to store it).

DON’T store water in the cloudy white containers (like milk jugs or most gallon water containers). They disintegrate after six months

Hygiene water: Larger storage containers

You can store your hygiene water in larger containers.

55 gallon buckets are great for that use--add two TBSP of bleach)

You can drink this water if necessary but it will taste plasticky. The 55 gallon plastic is softer than the clear water bottle plastic which means it breaks down easier.

How to treat questionable water...

1. Use coffee filters, paper towels, or layers of cheesecloth to filter out particles.
2. Boil for one minute at a full boil (no need to do it longer)
3. OR add bleach --16 drops per gallon
4. You can also put it in a clear pop bottle and leave it in the full sun for six hours. In AZ that will kill germs.

FYI: Swimming pool water is a LAAAAAAAAST result for drinking water. Do NOT plan on drinking this even if you treat it. Because of the high mineral levels, it will cause dysentery)

Increase short-life supply with Vacuum seal jars

A few years ago, Wendy DeWitt (an awesome Food Storage guru--she has lots of videos on youtube.com) came to our ward and showed us how to preserve things in Mason or Kerr jars that normally can't be put in #10 cans. For examples chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, Halloween Candy, cake mixes (take them out of the box and poke a small hole in the bag before putting them in the jar), Macaroni and cheese (again take them out of the box) etc. in glass jars. You can also preserve dehydrated food for a longer time when you put them in glass jars and suck the air out.

I have been using this way to preserve things I buy on sale for about 3-4 years. Here is a short example:

A while ago, I found Chocolate Chips on sale at Fry's for $1.00 per bag. I

bought about 40 bags! In order to preserve them for a year or more,

I put two bags in a quart jar and sucked the air out of them with a foodsaver and attachment.

You can buy a Food Saver and attachments for both a regular mouth jar and the wide mouth jar. . I got my attachments from Amazon.com. You can buy Food Savers on e-bay. Just make sure it has the port to attach the tube.

http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-T03-0006-01-Regular-Mouth-Jar-Sealer/dp/B0000CFFS6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1271221271&sr=8-1

PLEASEEEEE watch the video below if you want to learn how to do this. This is Wendy DeWitt. Awwwweeeesome!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0XWoeWRDdI&feature=PlayList&p=21CC9E08DA561704&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&in