7 ms·

I strongly encourage everyone to stock non-perishable food, drinking water and whatever supplies needed to survive at least a month as a matter of course.

ratsimihah 7y ago
Do I need to stock on drinking water if I live in a country where tap water is drinkable?
- mindcrime 7y ago
  Yes/no/maybe. It never hurts to stock up on drinking water, but... water is very heavy and takes up a lot of space. This limits the quantity that most people can realistically store. But what you can do, if you live in an area where any source of freshwater (lake, creek, stream, river, pond, etc.) is available within a reasonable distance (a day's hike?) is learn how to purify water and stock up on the supplies necessary to do so. There are different ways to purify water, but one of the easiest and most effective is still good old fashioned boiling. So if you have a decent vessel for boiling water in, and a means of starting a fire, and some supply of flammable materials, you can boil quite a bit of water. If you only live near a supply of salt water, or if you live near water sources that are especially dirty / polluted, distilling the water is a step beyond boiling. It's more complicated, slower, and requires more up front prep, but it's not completely outrageous to think of building / buying a distilling unit in advance of a possible failure of the public water system. The downside of this, of course, is that it requires you have a good supply of firewood or other burnable material, and a place to light a fire where you won't kill yourself with carbon monoxide poisoning. Chemical purification is another option... and in a pinch, you can get by with plain old (unscented) household bleach. And, of course, as others have mentioned, there are filtration options. If you go this route, it might not hurt to pre-filter your water (depending on what state it's in) with plain cotton cloth, a coffee filter, etc., to help preserve the life of your filter. The idea is the prefilter step removes the bigger particulates so the "real" filter never sees them.
- jiofih 7y ago
  In case of natural disasters the water supply is one of the first services to go.
- Symmetry 7y ago
  If there's an earthquake or hurricane or other disaster you might suddenly not have tap water any more. Having enough water to survive for a month is just good practice in general and this pandemic is a good opportunity to do that.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    >Having enough water to survive for a month While I don't necessarily disagree with the general philosophy, that probably translates into something like 50 gallons of water/person, or about 10 big jerry cans/water bottles which is a lot for most people to store along with everything else for a month.
    - cheese4242 7y ago
      Check out LifeStraws (and similar devices) if you have concerns about being able to store enough water for a crisis.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        I actually have water filtration for backpacking as well as iodine. But, if you don't have fresh water, a lot of people won't have access to water at all. I'm just up from a river myself but that's not typical.
        cheese4242 7y ago
        True enough. In those cases I see the LifeStraw as more of a "last ditch" solution. Think drinking out of clogged gutters or rain puddles with it as a last resort.
    - malandrew 7y ago
      WaterPrepared makes a solid 160-gallon container that is stackable and doesn't take up too much space (29″W x 36″D x 42″). I have one in my garage. With AquaMira drops it's good for like 5-years. That's just ~53-gallons each for my three person household. It's $400 but seems like a reasonable investment in the case things go awry.
- cheese4242 7y ago
  Yes absolutely. Don't count on any utilities functioning. There are many long-term water storage solutions. The simplest is a large package of bottled water. Also I highly recommended supplementing your water supply with a LifeStraw or similar device that can filter water.
  - Alex3917 7y ago
    LifeStraw is only rated for 250 gallons. Whereas you can get similar products for roughly the same price rated for 1,000,000 gallons, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP129-Filtration-Squeezable/dp/B00B1OSU4W https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP129-Filtration-Sque... (FWIW I haven't used either.)
    - cheese4242 7y ago
      Funny enough that's actually the one I normally carry but couldn't think of the name! You are right the Sawyer is better in general.
- cpascal 7y ago
  1 gallon of water per person per day is recommended. This may seem excessive, but it factors in water for cooking and cleaning.
jiofih 7y ago
I assume you live in a suburban house in the US? The majority of people live in places where it would be hard to stock up for a week without running out of space.
- cheese4242 7y ago
  There are many emergency food options that can work for people in even the smallest studio apartment. For example, here is a 30 day supply of non-perishable food that fits into an 8.5 gallon bucket: https://www.amazon.com/Augason-Farms-30-Day-Emergency-Storage/dp/B00IW1NQDC/ https://www.amazon.com/Augason-Farms-30-Day-Emergency-Storag... It will suck eating that everyday, but it will keep you alive. And if you can't fit a months supply, at least try a weeks supply or more. A case of MREs and a large package of bottled water stashed away in the back of a closet will go a long way in a crisis.
  - jiofih 7y ago
    Water. This assumes a plentiful supply of water for 30 days. If you consider storing water for “at least a month” as in your original comment, it takes an enormous amount of space even for a family of two/three.
- SkyBelow 7y ago
  I hear this sentiment often when it comes to bulk purchases, but I don't think I've ever seen someone verify it. Even when I was living in college dorms I had enough space to stock up on a dozen of gallons of water and dozens of jars of peanut butter or similar calorie dense food. It wouldn't have been hidden away from view and wouldn't have looked pleasant but it was possible.
- rasz 7y ago
  10kg of rice will last you 2 months.

ratsimihah 7y ago

Do I need to stock on drinking water if I live in a country where tap water is drinkable?

mindcrime 7y ago
Yes/no/maybe. It never hurts to stock up on drinking water, but... water is very heavy and takes up a lot of space. This limits the quantity that most people can realistically store. But what you can do, if you live in an area where any source of freshwater (lake, creek, stream, river, pond, etc.) is available within a reasonable distance (a day's hike?) is learn how to purify water and stock up on the supplies necessary to do so. There are different ways to purify water, but one of the easiest and most effective is still good old fashioned boiling. So if you have a decent vessel for boiling water in, and a means of starting a fire, and some supply of flammable materials, you can boil quite a bit of water. If you only live near a supply of salt water, or if you live near water sources that are especially dirty / polluted, distilling the water is a step beyond boiling. It's more complicated, slower, and requires more up front prep, but it's not completely outrageous to think of building / buying a distilling unit in advance of a possible failure of the public water system. The downside of this, of course, is that it requires you have a good supply of firewood or other burnable material, and a place to light a fire where you won't kill yourself with carbon monoxide poisoning. Chemical purification is another option... and in a pinch, you can get by with plain old (unscented) household bleach. And, of course, as others have mentioned, there are filtration options. If you go this route, it might not hurt to pre-filter your water (depending on what state it's in) with plain cotton cloth, a coffee filter, etc., to help preserve the life of your filter. The idea is the prefilter step removes the bigger particulates so the "real" filter never sees them.
jiofih 7y ago
In case of natural disasters the water supply is one of the first services to go.
Symmetry 7y ago
If there's an earthquake or hurricane or other disaster you might suddenly not have tap water any more. Having enough water to survive for a month is just good practice in general and this pandemic is a good opportunity to do that.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >Having enough water to survive for a month While I don't necessarily disagree with the general philosophy, that probably translates into something like 50 gallons of water/person, or about 10 big jerry cans/water bottles which is a lot for most people to store along with everything else for a month.
  - cheese4242 7y ago
    Check out LifeStraws (and similar devices) if you have concerns about being able to store enough water for a crisis.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      I actually have water filtration for backpacking as well as iodine. But, if you don't have fresh water, a lot of people won't have access to water at all. I'm just up from a river myself but that's not typical.
      - cheese4242 7y ago
        True enough. In those cases I see the LifeStraw as more of a "last ditch" solution. Think drinking out of clogged gutters or rain puddles with it as a last resort.
  - malandrew 7y ago
    WaterPrepared makes a solid 160-gallon container that is stackable and doesn't take up too much space (29″W x 36″D x 42″). I have one in my garage. With AquaMira drops it's good for like 5-years. That's just ~53-gallons each for my three person household. It's $400 but seems like a reasonable investment in the case things go awry.
cheese4242 7y ago
Yes absolutely. Don't count on any utilities functioning. There are many long-term water storage solutions. The simplest is a large package of bottled water. Also I highly recommended supplementing your water supply with a LifeStraw or similar device that can filter water.
- Alex3917 7y ago
  LifeStraw is only rated for 250 gallons. Whereas you can get similar products for roughly the same price rated for 1,000,000 gallons, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP129-Filtration-Squeezable/dp/B00B1OSU4W https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP129-Filtration-Sque... (FWIW I haven't used either.)
  - cheese4242 7y ago
    Funny enough that's actually the one I normally carry but couldn't think of the name! You are right the Sawyer is better in general.
cpascal 7y ago
1 gallon of water per person per day is recommended. This may seem excessive, but it factors in water for cooking and cleaning.

jiofih 7y ago

I assume you live in a suburban house in the US? The majority of people live in places where it would be hard to stock up for a week without running out of space.

cheese4242 7y ago
There are many emergency food options that can work for people in even the smallest studio apartment. For example, here is a 30 day supply of non-perishable food that fits into an 8.5 gallon bucket: https://www.amazon.com/Augason-Farms-30-Day-Emergency-Storage/dp/B00IW1NQDC/ https://www.amazon.com/Augason-Farms-30-Day-Emergency-Storag... It will suck eating that everyday, but it will keep you alive. And if you can't fit a months supply, at least try a weeks supply or more. A case of MREs and a large package of bottled water stashed away in the back of a closet will go a long way in a crisis.
- jiofih 7y ago
  Water. This assumes a plentiful supply of water for 30 days. If you consider storing water for “at least a month” as in your original comment, it takes an enormous amount of space even for a family of two/three.
SkyBelow 7y ago
I hear this sentiment often when it comes to bulk purchases, but I don't think I've ever seen someone verify it. Even when I was living in college dorms I had enough space to stock up on a dozen of gallons of water and dozens of jars of peanut butter or similar calorie dense food. It wouldn't have been hidden away from view and wouldn't have looked pleasant but it was possible.
rasz 7y ago
10kg of rice will last you 2 months.