How To Store Emergency Food And Water

I think we all love to see new ways to store emergency food and water. If you listen or read the news it’s pretty obvious we must be prepared to store emergency food and water today, not tomorrow. I realize most of us have budgets that may keep us from purchasing all the food or water we need to store to be prepared. I get it. But, there is no excuse if you do not have enough food and water in your home this very minute to feed and hydrate your family for at least two weeks. I can hear some of you say, “I’m living paycheck to paycheck.” I think many feel that way but they are somehow doing it. Please don’t make excuses, you are responsible for your family, no one else should be expected to take care of your family.

The government can’t take care of everyone, so if you think they will come to your neighborhood within 24 hours of a disaster, think again. It’s not going to happen. Please don’t think your neighbor down the street will fulfill your needs. I get about 300-400 emails a day from people telling me how they are storing food and water with very little money. I may be on a soapbox today, yes I do this a few times a year because I want people to understand how important it is to be prepared.

I love it when a reader sends me pictures and tells me how she removed her beloved swing from her porch where she enjoyed sipping hot chocolate sitting in it when it was raining. Her name is Robbie, and she talked her sweet husband into adding a small section onto the porch to give her a larger pantry to stock food and water for emergencies. I love this! I asked her permission to share her photos, thank you, Robbie! I call this picture, Robbie’s Store. She fills it so she doesn’t run out of food and replenishes as needed.

Store Emergency Food Pantry

Here’s the deal, people will ask me how much food to store. That’s a very good question, but there are so many variables.

Store Emergency Food Boxes

I’ve seen boxes of emergency food storage at Costco where the pictures of the food on the box look fabulous. But if you look closer the box may say  “feeds a family of four for three days.” Really? I think not. Unless you eat only 300 calories three times a day. This would not feed Mark. Well, today he would have to eat tomorrow’s allotted food as well so he would feel full.

It’s still a very good way to store emergency food storage. It’s a compact box with packets ready to add water. I don’t buy those boxes because they don’t work for Mark and me. But the box will give you a few meals that you can make with very little work. Emergency food storage is critical to have on hand no matter what you decide works for you.

Now, I don’t calculate my emergency food storage by calories. I don’t count calories now. I probably should since I would be thinner, but that’s how I roll. Today, I want to show those readers who have not seen how I store my emergency food a glimpse of how you may want to do it.

Store Emergency Food Racks

These shelves I purchased online from Costco that are more heavy duty than the ones you can purchase from the store. They are 72 inches tall by 48 inches wide and 18 inches deep. They have heavy duty wheels with locks to keep them in place, or I can roll them when needed.

If you have questions about the amount of food you may want to store, I have it all spelled out in my book “Prepare Your Family For Survival” by Linda Loosli

Here’s a picture showing food storage in cases under bunk beds:

I have a wonderful friend, named Alex Tarsha who designed these shelves years ago with studs on the wall. He sold his blog called Survive Hive, but I couldn’t find the directions to make these. I shared his post about these back on February 27th, 2014. You may want to check out the website, I like the it.

Store Emergency Water

Now, let me show you how I store some of my water, it may or may not work for you. As you know, I highly recommend storing four-gallons of water per person per day. We need it for cooking, hydrating, washing dishes and some for personal hygiene. This picture below shows how I store 56-gallons of water underneath a queen size bed in my guest room. The containers are the 3.5-gallon size WaterBricks and I preserve the water in all of my containers with Water Preserver so I only have to rotate the water every five years compared to bleach which needs to be rotated every six months.

If you have a dresser you can put on an angle you may be able to store water behind it like what is shown in the picture below. I purchased 12 cases of water that stores for 50 years up to temperatures of 145 degrees. Yes, they are very expensive, but it’s water I will drink and enjoy every drop of it. I saved for three years to buy these. Just giving you the heads up. Blue Cans Trust me on this one, it’s the best-tasting water I have ever tasted.

You may want to consider purchasing water filters or purifiers. If you have contaminated water coming out of your local city water lines you may be instructed to halt all water use. I have seen this many times right here in the USA over the last few years. Government officials made mistakes hooking up lines in several cities right here in Utah. Officials also did not disclose the lead in the water lines in Flint, Michigan, as you may remember until a doctor started questioning the health of kids in the area.

I will not drink, cook or wash any fruits or vegetables with my tap water. I don’t trust those in charge of keeping our water safe. I use a system called reverse osmosis which removes up to 99.9% of bacteria and viruses out of my water.

Just a note here, I went to the city of Farmington, Utah back in 1983 when my family lived there. I took a white coffee cup filled with water that was yellow that I dispensed from my kitchen faucet. I asked the city what was wrong with our water, it was yellow? Keep in mind I had soft water so it was not mineral. They said I shouldn’t worry about it. Well, that’s the last day I have ever had a drop of water used in my kitchen.

It’s interesting because my neighbors and I started asking why is it that so many people were getting cancer in Farmington, Utah? Our neighborhood. We started walking around the streets and it seemed that in every third house someone had cancer, children, and adults. Why? It was actually questioned on a local TV news station. We never got an answer. I’m pushier now, I would have sent the water to be tested. I was too trusting back then, now I know better.

Please store emergency food and water, you will need it, I promise. May God bless our world, Linda

Copyright picture (featured image only): AdobeStock_109228559 by Aleksandar Kosev