We like to use emptied soda and juice jugs for water storage. They are cheap (sometimes free if you clean up after a party!) and we can usually find a place to stash them because they’re much smaller than 55 gallon barrels. One place we put a few of the juice jugs of water for storage is in the freezer. Simply wash your jug out really well (you could do a rinse with a bit of bleach to get them super clean), then fill a bit down from the top with water to give the water room to expand as it freezes. Screw the lid on nice and tight, put it in the freezer and it’s good to go.
We use the juice jugs because they’re a freezer friendly rectangular shape. This shape also makes them cooler friendly, so even though they are classified as water storage, they make perfect ice blocks for camping trips that DO NOT melt all over your food in the cooler or cost you any extra money or hassle. (And hey, you can drink them when they’re melted.)
These ice blocks could also be transferred to your refrigerator to keep it cooler longer in the event of a power outage. And the less air space there is in your freezer, the longer things will stay frozen without power, so filling up the empty space in your freezer with juice jugs of water is a win-win-win situation all around.
Filling in the space also helps lower power use, since the freezer doesn’t have to work as hard!
http://tinyurl.com/3e2dkh6
Which plastic water bottles don’t leach chemicals?
by Vreni Gurd | Thu, 03/29/2007
excerpt
Choose your water bottles very carefully in order to prevent
chemicals in the plastic from leaching into your water.
Plastic water bottles are very convenient for carting water around when we are on the go, as they don’t break if we drop them. However, it is worth paying attention to the type of
plastic your water bottle is made of, to ensure that the chemicals in the plastic do not leach into the water. If you taste plastic, you are drinking it, so get yourself another bottle.
To be certain that you are choosing a bottle that does not leach, check the recycling symbol on your bottle. If it is a #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), or a #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene), or a #5 PP (polypropylene), your bottle is fine. The type of plastic bottle in which water is usually sold is usually a #1, and is only recommended for one time use. Do not refill it. Better to use a reusable water bottle, and fill it with your own filtered water from home and keep these single-use bottles out of the landfill.
etc ……..
This is a great idea but you have to be careful to not overfill the containers.
Arizona brand has green tea in one gallon containers. I would assume that they would be food grade and ok for water storage but I don’t know for sure. I’ve been using them for rain water for my garden. Does anyone one know if they are ok for multiple uses?