Water Storage 101

I wrote a previous post about Water Filtration & Purification, but today I'm going to talk about water storage. I'm going to go through this in an easy to follow listing for each thing you should know about long-term water storage.


How Much Water To Store:

- A good rule to go by is that each person will need one gallon of drinking water per day.

- Pregnant women, children, the elderly, those who are ill, and people living in extreme climates (either really hot, or really cold) should plan for 2 gallons per day.

- This gallon of water per day is the amount needed for drinking only. Store an additional gallon of water per person, per day to cover water that will be needed for cooking and hygiene use.

- If you have pets, remember to put water back for them too. If you have a medium to large dog, 1 gallon of water should be stored for them per day. Smaller dogs and cats will need 1/2 a gallon per day.

- Pets that live in extreme climates, like people, will need that amount doubled.


Best Way To Store Water:

- Choose a place that has little or no light, and try to find a location that is not too cold.

- Choose jugs or containers that are BPA free.

- If buying gallons or containers of water from a store, choose ones labeled 'drinking water' and NOT 'distilled water.' Distilled water tends to absorb the taste of the container. Also, distilled water is nothing more than processed tap water that has been condensed back into liquid form. This process removes fluoride and electrolytes. Lack of fluoride could heighten chances of dental problems, and your body needs electrolytes, such as potassium, chloride, and sodium to stay hydrated. 


Shelf Life Of Store Bought Water:

- Store bought drinking water comes with an expiration date on it, usually a year or 2, but according to the FDA it has an indefinite shelf life. (see 4th paragraph under 'FAQ's about Bottled Water')



How To Prepare Your Own Water Containers For Storage:

- Be sure that each container has a tight fitting lid. That is very important.

- Clean the food grade BPA free plastic or glass container(s) by washing the inside, outside, and the lid(s) with hot soapy water.

- Sanitize the inside and outside of container(s) and lid(s) using a solution of 1 teaspoon non-scented household bleach per quart of water.

- Be sure and thoroughly rinse the container(s) and lid(s) with clean water.


How To Prepare (Non-Store Bought) Water For Storage:

Before I get into treating your tap water, I want to say that once you treated your water you should only consider it pure for 6 months. Since you shouldn't add more bleach to water that was previously treated with bleach, please just sanitize the containers and fill them with straight tap water before storing them.

Date the containers and keep them in a dark place in the coolest area of your home or wherever your storage is located. This water will be safe as is for up to 6 months without any further treatment as long as you filled them during a time that you didn't have a boil order or anything going on.

If you plan to store water in larger tanks for future drinking, be sure that you save smaller containers that are of quart, gallon, or 5 gallon sizes so you can treat smaller amounts of water at a time. I can't express how important it is to remember to store back bleach, droppers, and measuring spoons.

If your stored tap water has been sitting for over 6 months from the date you filled them, you'll need to treat the water before drinking it or using it for cooking. This water and bleach mixture will need to sit at least 30 minutes before drinking it to ensure that it has been properly purified. After sitting for the 30 minute period, there should be a slight chlorine scent to it.

- use 2 drops of bleach for 1 quart of clear water
- use 4 drops of bleach for 1 quart of water if it looks cloudy

- use 8 drops of bleach for 1 gallon of clear water
- use 16 drops of bleach for 1 gallon of water that looks cloudy

- use 1/2 teaspoon of bleach for 5 gallons of clear water
- use 1 teaspoon of bleach for 5 gallons of water that looks cloudy

After the water has been treated, be sure and date the container again. This water is only good for 6 months after the treatment date.


Alternative Boiling Water Treatment:

In the event that you have ran out of bleach to treat your water, or if you're allergic to bleach, you should use a boiling method to purify your water.

- Bring water to a rolling boil and let it stay at the rolling boil for a minimum of 1 minute.

- Let the water cool before drinking it or storing it.

- If you choose to store water once you have boiled it, remember to date it. It is only safe for 6 months after boiled. It should be boiled again if not used within the 6 month time period.


Alternative Iodine Tablet Purification:

- I'm not familiar with using iodine tablets. If you choose to stock these back and use them, you should follow the manufacturers instructions that come with them.

- Long-term safety after using iodine tablets isn't clear, so this should be an alternative for water that will be used as soon as the manufacturer's instructions state it is safe to use it. Water treated with this should not be set back in storage for any length of time.

- If you haven't used iodine tablets before and haven't been exposed to iodine in general, be cautious because some people are allergic to it.

Protection For Children, Especially Our Daughters, During Chaotic Times.

In this post I'm going to briefly talk about protecting your children in chaotic times, or even better, enabling them to protect themselves. Of course I would fight to the death trying to keep my children safe, and I'm sure you would too, but it's important that they also know ways to protect themselves. I hope it doesn't come down to it, but the possibility of being ran in on by unprepared, looting idiots who intend to do nothing more than hurt or kill whoever is in their way so they can take over whatever food or supplies they want is a very real possibility. Another sad truth that I daily pray my daughters and I will never have to face is the possibility of disgusting lunatics who will go around foraging for women and young females that they can rape simply for their own pleasure.

You need to prepare yourself and your children, especially your daughters, for circumstances like this. The first step would be to sit down and have a heart to heart discussion about these situations. These may be hard topics to talk about with your children because they're terrifying, but they're also going to be hard for their younger minds to fathom. I can't express the importance of these discussions though, these are very real possibilities that could one day turn into real life problems. I feel like the best physical preparation for all of this is through self defense classes, and depending on their age, shooting classes. I'm going to share some links below that will help you locate a great defense class and shooting courses near you. In the meantime, stock up on pepper spray, and look into getting a stun gun, or even a stun baton... don't forget to stock up on additional batteries.

R.A.D. Programs (Rape, Aggression, Defense System) - Locate a class near you!

radKIDS (Rape, Aggression, Defense System for children) - Locate a class near you!

NRA Training - Find a location near you that offers adult and youth firearm care and self defense courses.

What About Food Poisoning After SHTF?

Am I the only one who feels like a post disaster/SHTF situation may result in more cases of food poisoning? Unless you are running on solar energy or have some sort of generator set up, refrigeration probably isn't going to be something that you have access too. While there are make-shift fridges like the clay pot ones mentioned in a past post, they still won't work as well as the ones we have today. With foods being a precious necessity, I can only think that some people will have a hard time throwing things out if they think it's just starting to go bad, so maybe the foods that are a bit iffy will still be consumed with fingers crossed that no one gets sick. But what if you do? Food poisoning is nothing to play around with. I've asked a little over a handful of people what their take on this was, and even though I consider everyone that I asked to be better seasoned preppers than myself, they all said they hadn't even thought about it. I know that abdominal cramps, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, nausea, and vomiting aren't something we like to sit around and think about, but since those are the symptoms of food poisoning I think they're pretty important to at least bring to your attention once. So let me tell you my take on it, and then let me share some natural remedies that could just help you get through it, especially during a time when hospitals aren't accessible.

I've had food poisoning twice. I went to the hospital the first time, I thought I had caught some disease and was a goner. The hospital ran a small series of tests, then gave me an IV to make sure I didn't get anymore dehydrated than I already was when I arrived, kept me over night, and I was given antibiotics.  The second time I got food poisoning, some 4 years later, I didn't go anywhere. It hit me so fast and so hard that I couldn't drive myself to the hospital, my mind and vision both seemed too blurry to function enough to even remember where my cell phone was at, my body hurt so bad that it felt like it was shutting down, and every movement resulted in vomiting or 'other' toilet uses. I had somehow managed to pull a pillow and blanket onto the bathroom floor, and couldn't do anything but wait for the person I was living with to get off work... it seemed like he'd never make it home. I thought for sure I was living the last hours of my life right there on that bathroom floor, just inches from the toilet.

When he did make it home and found me in the bathroom, I remember mumbling to him that I knew I had food poisoning, but couldn't get up to even go to the car. After who knows how long, he returned and told me he called him Mom (in Mexico), and she told him what to give me. Without asking anything, I assumed she had told him of some magic cure and I gathered enough strength to sit up. I drank the first cup he handed me, which instantly resulted in the worst and longest session of vomiting that I went through since I had gotten sick that day. The vomiting eventually turned to a few dry heaves, then it stopped. My headache and dizziness seemed to immediately ease up and I was able to sit up against the bathtub. I still felt horrible though. He handed me a raw clove of garlic, told me to chew it just enough to make it small enough to swallow, and then swallow it with the liquid in the second cup. The thought alone made me think I would get sick, but I did as he said. I waited a second thinking for sure I'd throw up again, but I didn't. After a couple minutes I felt remarkably better and was able to stand up, wash my hands and face, I drank a bottle of water and was able to keep it down, and I went to bed where I slept solid the rest of the night.

When I woke up the next morning I felt perfectly fine, aside from barely noticeable sore stomach muscles. He had already left for work by the time I woke up, so I decided to call his Mom and ask what all he had given me. Since her seemingly magical remedies helped me almost instantly, I thought it was well worth taking note of incase they were ever needed in the future. The first cup was nothing more than some sort of homemade Alka-Seltzer which contained the following ingredients:

1 cup of carbonated water

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 fresh lime squeezed into the cup

 



I'm not sure what it was in this Alka-Seltzer type concoction that made me throw up the way it did, but I'm guessing it worked because it got out whatever bit of spoiled food that was left in my stomach at the time I drank it. The thing he gave me after that was the garlic clove and the second cup. I asked her the story behind the garlic and she told me that it's used in some of the poor areas of Mexico as a natural antibiotic, and it helps strengthen the immune system. She said the second cup that he gave me to drink with the garlic was a tea that contained the following:

5 fresh basil leaves

tablespoon dried chamomile

2 cups of water

 

The tea was made by bringing the basil and chamomile to a boil in the water, letting it boil down to about half its original volume, straining the basil and chamomile out of the water, and drinking it without any sugar, honey, or other sweetener. The basil worked as a natural pain reliever, and the chamomile helped with digestion and cramps.

 

She said she had heard of these remedies used by numerous people in the past, was given them herself when she got food poisoning once, and that she had even used them on her children a couple times. She swore by these little concoctions and said she never had, and never would, turn to the hospitals or doctors for food poisoning when it can be so cheaply, simply, and quickly dealt with right at home.

 

Here's my comparison on it from my own experiences. When I went to the hospital with my first case of food poisoning, I remember feeling like it was a long process. I was sick for a few days, getting a bit better as each day passed. Even though I was fine after it all, going through the testing, the prick of the IV when my whole body already hurt, having to stay overnight in the hospital, and having to take antibiotics until they were gone wasn't pleasing. It only seemed to make me more uncomfortable. If I were to ever get food poisoning again, which I pray I don't since it's so horrible, I will definitely just go with the natural remedies that I was given on my second spell of it. The recovery time seemed almost immediate after I had taken the little remedies that were given to me, and I didn't feel any of the leftover type of weakness the next day like I did from the hospital's 'cure.' I can't tell you not to go to the hospital if you have, or think you have, food poisoning, I just want to acknowledge you of these natural remedies. If S really does HTF in the future like so many of us are preparing for, this is just another remedy to add to your list of things in the event that you can't get to a hospital.

Could You Live Off A Menu From Great Depression Inspired Meals?

I ran across this earlier and thought I'd share it. I didn't write it, but it's interesting nonetheless. Some of these foods listed are things I ate during the summers when I visited my Granny and Gramps who lived through the Great Depression. Some of the things I've never tried, and to this day I'm not sure if I'd eat some of them unless it was really a life or death from starvation choice. What do you think? Check out the list by clicking the link below.


Could You Stomach These Great Depression Meals?


Look the list over and tell me what you think in the comments below. Have you eaten any of these? Would you try them all just to see what they taste like, or would it be more of a life or death situation on some of them? I'm just curious...

Natural Remedies - Basil - Part 2 - Holy Basil, or Tulsi (Ocimum Tenuiflorum):

Thank you for coming back for part 2 of this series. As I mentioned before, there are numerous varieties of basil. Today I'm going to be sharing some of the health benefits and remedial uses of holy basil alone, along with the ways to prepare it for each use. I became familiar with each of these uses by word of mouth, but I took them all a step further and searched for confirmation from multiple places. Even though I'm not going to quote anything from what I've researched, I'll still place the links for the content I read so you have access to further references and research of your own. Let's get started.

Holy Basil Tea Preparation:  Pour 8 ounces of boiling water over 10 leaves of fresh holy basil, cover it and let it steep for around 5 minutes. After it has steeped, strain off the basil leaves and drink. Prepare this without honey or other sweeteners unless specified. Some teas have alterations depending on what they are being used for, the alterations will be stated.

Remedial Uses of Holy Basil Tea:

Arthritis Relief, also Reduces Inflammation and Swelling - Drink as needed.

Asthma and Bronchitis Relief - The tea for this is a bit different, boil 15 fresh basil leaves and 2 thin slices of ginger in 1 liter of water until the water has boiled down to half its original volume, then add a bit of honey to taste and drink.

Blood Sugar - One 8 ounce cup per day could keep blood sugar regulated.

Cold and Flu Relief - Drink twice daily.

Fever Reducer - Can be drank every 2 - 3 hours to keep fever down.

Headache Relief - Can be crank at first sign of headache, this could prevent the headache from worsening and relieve the current pain.

Increases the Function of Kidneys - When drank daily with a small bit of honey, this can increase the function of kidneys. This may also help expel kidney stones (renal stones) in about 6 a month period. I know that's a long time, but if it were to ever come down to not having other options, this is a natural alternative.

Respiratory - Promotes healing of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.

Sore Throat Relief, Soothes Cough - Can be drank or gargled.




Chewing Fresh Holy Basil Preparation: Following the harvesting instructions on the previous page, harvest the specified number of holy basil leaves you will need off the plant, rinse them well, and chew them fresh.


Remedial Uses for Chewing Fresh Holy Basil Leaves:

Mouth Infections - Chewing about 3 - 4 fresh leaves could cure mouth infections and ulcers, this may need to be done one time daily, for a couple days simultaneously. This can also help bad breath.

Stress and Anxiety - Chewing 12 fresh leaves a day could prevent stress and anxiety disorders. If you choose not to chew these daily, you can chew them at the first sign of heightened stress or anxiety to keep it at bay and provide calming.




Topical Holy Basil Leaf Preparation : Pound about 8 to 10 fresh holy basil leaves until it becomes a paste or cream-type consistency unless otherwise specified. You may need to add drops of water as you pound it out, but only use one or two drops at a time to ensure that you don't make it too watery.

Remedial Uses for Topical Fresh Holy Basil Leaf Cream or Paste:

Arthritis, Inflammation, and Pain Relief - A larger quantity of leaves may need to be used depending on the size of the area that needs relief. Just follow the general instructions, adding leaves and a drop or two of water as needed until you have enough paste to apply topically to the area. This can be done as needed, generally every 3 to 4 hours.

Headache Relief - If the tea doesn't seem to be doing the job, you can pound the leaves with sandalwood paste to be applied topically to temples or right onto the area of your head where you feel the headache.

Insect Bite Relief - Can be applied right to the bite to reduce swelling and ease the stinging, burning, or itching.

Minor Cuts and Scrapes - This can be applied to help with the pain and promote quicker healing. I don't recommend this for burns, I've tried it and it seemed to make it feel worse. Aloe is better, we'll discuss that in another post.



While I'm sure there are additional uses for Holy Basil, these are the main benefits and uses that I am familiar with. If you're aware of additional uses, please comment below so I can add them to this post. Below are the links I looked at to confirm these natural remedies and benefits, feel free to check them out.


What Are The Health Benefits Of Basil?

Basil Plants Have Anti-Arthritic Properties

Holy Basil Benefits: Growing Your Own Medicine

Health Benefits Of Holy Basil - Tulsi

15 Benefits Of Holy Basil (Tulsi)

 ***************************************************************************************************************

 Please be sure and check back in for further information about other natural remedies. Leave a comment if you have one, and share this with others who may find it useful. I'm still interested in finding similar blogs and sites too, so please share yours or your favorites in the comments below. Don't forget you can contact me personally through any of the options on the Contact Magpie page, I'm always open to suggestions for article content and interested in getting to know my blog's readers.