Water Storage

Probably the most important thing that we can have in our food storage is WATER. It doesn't matter how much food we have, we need water to survive. So, you might want to make this move up to the top of your food storage priority list if you do not have your water storage yet. We have been asked to store a 2 weeks supply of water. You should have a gallon of water per person in your family per day.


This comes straight from http://www.providentliving.com/.

Drinking Water

Water Storage Guidelines

Commercially bottled water in PETE (or PET) plastic containers may be purchased. Follow the container’s “best if used by” dates as a rotation guideline. Avoid plastic containers that are not PETE plastic.

If you choose to package water yourself, consider the following guidelines:

Containers

Use only food-grade containers. Smaller containers made of PETE plastic or heavier plastic buckets or drums work well.

Clean, sanitize, and thoroughly rinse all containers prior to use. A sanitizing solution can be prepared by adding 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) to one quart (1 liter) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.

Do not use plastic milk jugs, because they do not seal well and tend to become brittle over time.

Do not use containers previously used to store non-food products.

Water Pretreatment

Water from a chlorinated municipal water supply does not need further treatment when stored in clean, food-grade containers.

Non-chlorinated water should be treated with bleach. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon (8 drops) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) for every gallon (4 liters) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.

Storage

Containers should be emptied and refilled regularly.

Store water only where potential leakage would not damage your home or apartment.

Protect stored water from light and heat. Some containers may also require protection from freezing.

The taste of stored water can be improved by pouring it back and forth between two containers before use.

Additional Information
Note: The following links are not to official Church publications but are provided as additional resource material:

www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/water

www.redcross.org/services/prepare

Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted.
If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, then no additional purification is needed; otherwise, pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soft drinks.
Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.

Water Purification Guidelines

If your water supply has become polluted, it should be purified before use. Depending on the nature of the contamination, water may be purified by boiling, disinfection, or filtration.

Boiling
Bringing water to a rolling boil for 3 to 5 minutes will kill most water-borne microorganisms. However, boiling of water may concentrate toxic chemical or heavy metal contamination.

Disinfection
Household bleach, if used properly, may be used to kill microorganisms. See Water Storage Guidelines for more information. The use of bleach does not address toxic chemical or heavy metal contamination.

Filtration
Water filters can be effective in purifying water contaminated with microorganisms, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. The effectiveness of these products depends on design, condition, and proper use. Water filters produced by Seychelle have been used successfully by Church missionaries for many years.

To learn more and to find local emergency preparedness stores, search the Internet for water purification and emergency preparedness supplies.http://www.seychelle.com/http://www.katadyn.com/

Food Storage Calculator

With all the dry pack canning we have been doing, I thought it might be helpful for you to know what the recommendations are for a basic year supply of food for your family. There are many different calculators online. You can google it or you can use one that I found. Go to this link:

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm

You can personalize it to give you the amounts you need. If you have any questions or can't get the link to work, please let me know.

This is just something to help you get started. For me, food storage became so much easier when I knew the amount of food that I needed!! It gives you an end goal. But, also keep in mind this is just the very basic food that will keep you alive for a year. Once you have accomplished this goal, you can move on to some things that might make it more pleasant to live on food storage for example, spices, dried foods, and chocolate chips. :)

Remember: Being prepared means doing a little bit all of the time, rather than a lot all at once and then . . . NOTHING!

Happy storing!
Jamie

Gardening

With springtime here, I thought I'd share this with you. I was actually looking for something else on http://www.providentliving.org/ and I saw that they have a new section on gardening! Here's the link: http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,6637-1,00.html. There is a ton of great info there!! I love and count on the ward garden to get great produce and to learn how to garden, but I do use my own backyard garden to experiment and try to grow things and use what I have learned.

Good luck with your gardens!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Caldwell 9th ward Self-Reliance blog!

I am going to be posting all sorts of great information, links, recipes, ideas that have to do with self-reliance. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! For those in the ward, I will be starting with info that I have previously email out, but stay tuned. . .