As this post is on Today's the Day :Thursday we will be covering the topics of emergency preparedness and food storage. No matter what situation you are in you can start preparing today... and you should.
I would recommend you start with storing water. Now, eventually you should have enough water stored so that each person in your household has one gallon per day for 2 weeks. Now that seems like a daunting task, but you don't have to get it all at once.
First, find a cool, dark place where you can store your water. The best place would be in a closet near an exit. I choose my coat closet. Now, if you need to clear some space... do so. This will get rid of the excuse that you have no where to store it.
Second, decide what type of container you are going to store your water in and the acquire one. Whether it be a 55-gallon barrel (probably not best to store this one in a closet), cases of water bottles, one-gallon containers, or recycled containers (empty and wash out juice or soda bottles). Some factors you want to think about are the amount of space you have to store enough water for your family, how often you want to rotate it, and how portable your water is in case you need to leave your home quickly.
My husband and I choose to store half of our supply in one-gallon containers... and the other half in cases of water bottles. That way, if we need to it would be easy to take it with us in case of an evacuation. It is also, easier to divide out or share with neighbors with small containers.
Third, start storing slowly. If you choose a large barrel, put some money aside each month until you have enough to purchase it. If you choose water bottles or such, wait until it goes on sale and then buy one or two. Continue to do this until you have reached your goal.
1 gallon = 128 fluid oz. So for 1 person you need 14 gallons or 1,792 oz.
My storage consists of 7 1-gallon containers per person and 53 16.9 oz. water bottles
Once you have all or even some of your water make sure you rotate it as often as you need to. If you decided to store it in recycled containers you might need to rotate more often. If you use water bottles, you can easily rotate this by using it in your daily lives and keeping track of how much you need to replace. While, rotating is always good... water in a sealed container (like a water bottle) will never go bad. It may not taste as good as fresh water... but it is still good. Tip: If you move water back and forth between 2 containers it will taste better. Since my family chose to buy sealed containers we will probably not rotate ours very often.
Make sure to put 3 gallons of your overall storage per person with the 72 hour kits. :)
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