Nestle Pure Life Water $1.54/case at Smith's!

Water is an essential for life and a good thing to store in case of any type of emergency. There is a good deal on water going on right now at Smith's.

The 24-count Nestle Pure Life water bottles are included in the Buy 10 Save $5 promo. at $2.79. (See other items included in this sale HERE. Thanks, Centsible Sisters!) You will need to throw in 6 other items included in the buy 10 save $5 promo. to get the $2.79 sale price on the water. Think of using 6 free pasta or $0.39 Powerade...

There is also a Catalina Promo. running on this water until 4/3/11. When you buy:

2 cases - $1.00 back on your next order

3 cases - $2.00 back on your next order

4 cases - $5.00 back on your next order.

So basically when you combine the sale with the Catalina, you end up paying $1.54 per case (about 6 cents per bottle)!

Here's the breakdown:

Buy 4 cases of Nestle Pure Life (24 ct.) at $2.79 each - $11.16

+ price of 6 other participating products

Total price: $11.16 + price of other items, Get $5.00 back

You can then use this $5.00 Catalina to buy four more cases of water (and 6 other promo. items) to pay $6.16 out of pocket on the water and get another $5.00 Catalina back.

If you happened to print the coupons availabe last month for this water (no longer available) your deal will be even sweeter!

WATER STORAGE

Want to know how much water your family will need? HERE is great booklet from FEMA. They suggest storing at least one gallon of water per person, per day, for two weeks. (Each person needs 14 gallons of water.)

14 gallons of water = 106 bottles

(Thanks, Prepared LDS Family and Centsible Sisters!)

Water Barrels...CHECK!

Okay, so we've got the water barrels...now what?! I was cracking up when I got this email from Jen:

"Natalie, We got the water barrels. Thank you over and over! I really appreciate it so much.

One question: are you going to fill yours up with hose water? Do I add bleach to it? Or are these just for washing dishes/body kind of water? As you can tell, I am quite inexperienced with this whole thing. Jen"

This was funny to me because I was thinking the same thing. I was looking at those huge barrels thinking, "Hmm, what am I supposed to do with these?"

Now we all know I'm not claiming to be an expert. We're learning alongside and helping each other along, remember? BUT here's what I've found from people that are experienced and what I'm planning to do.

According to the Red Cross/FEMA information available online, it is a good idea to wash out any containers to store water in with 1 tsp. of bleach to 1 qt. of water solution. Swish the solution around so that it touches all parts of the container and rinse with clean water.

Even though our containers have been washed out, it might not be a bad idea to rinse them out again. I think I will...just in case.

Our tap water is treated with chlorine, so we can just fill it on up without having to add anything else to the water. If your water is not chlorine treated, you do need to add bleach (1 tsp. bleach to 8 gallons).

I think I will get a new (and clean) hose, so that I'm not filling my barrel up with nastiness from the hose that sits outside all the time. We can all share the clean hose. Let me know if you want to borrow it!

My personal plan is to use bottled water for my drinking storage and use the barrels of water for cooking/washing water. The inventory link (thank you, Prepared LDS Family) on my blog breaks down how much of each kind of water (washing, cooking & drinking) you should store based on how many people are in your family.

We also need some attachment things (can't think of what they're called, syphons?) to pump water out of the barrels. I'll look into where to order those and where the best price is. Anyone know of a good source for this?

I'm excited to be getting my water storage in order!

Water Barrels Have Arrived!

If you took part in the December group order and bought water barrels, they have arrived!

Lucky for us the boy scouts will be delivering them to us (as service!) this Tuesday night (1/26) from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Please have your $25.00 cash for each barrel you've purchased ready.

A HUGE thank-you goes out to Brother Dale S. for hooking us up with the great price, transporting these barrels from Utah, AND delivering them to us. This is awesome!

Food Storage Plan Update

I'm working on my food storage plan. So far, I've finished my inventory. Have you?

It's been nice to know exactly what I have. It came in handy when the sugar was on sale to know how much more I wanted...because I knew how much I had.

I'm now going to work on slowly gathering what I need. First on my list is WATER.
It's said that humans can go three weeks without food but only three days without water...so water it is.

After reading water storage information from:

• USU Cooperative Extension (Water Storage & Emergency Use)
• USU Cooperative Extension (Water Storage)
• Water Information (HERE)
• Fema and the American Red Cross (Food and Water in an Emergency)

I've decided to store 2 gallons of water per person, per day for two weeks.

The breakdown:
6 people at 2 gallons a day= 12 gallons of water/day
12 gallons/day x 14 (two-week supply)= 168 gallons

Whew! That seems like a lot. Since I've done my inventory, I know that I already have about 90 gallons of water. I have some water bottles for drinking that I've picked up when I find a sale. (I usually like to pay $2.00 or less for a 24-pack.)I also have some 7-gallon containers that we used for storage when it was just the two of us. We kept these babies stacked in the bathroom of our little condo. (Ah, the good 'ol days.) We bought these at Wal-Mart.

I actually had to use them once when the water was shut off for repairs to the building. I liked that they were portable and had a spigot on the side for easy use. I just put one at each sink and used it as I would the faucet. I'm going to buy the 55-gallon water barrels for the rest of my water storage. We have room in the garage for them and I think this will work for our family. What has worked well for you? Any suggestions for me?