Water is a critical element of your family preparedness planning. There is a lot of information on the net about water filtration, so I won’t repeat all of it here. However, I will touch on some highlights.

Most experts agree that you should plan to have one gallon of water per person per day in an emergency situation. Remember, unless your food storage consists solely of store-bought canned goods and home-canned goods, you will need water to prepare your meals. If you have freeze dried food storage, water is the only thing you will need, and you have to have it.

You should be filtering your water even if you have a water well. Municipal water supplies have lots of chemicals in them. In the past, studies have shown that are up to 200 chemicals in municipal water supplies. Fluoride will be found in city water throughout the U.S. You should know that fluoride is horrible for you. Yes, I know that the dentist says it’s great for your teeth, but do some research and you will find that it is horrible for your body and your brain. There have been a lot of studies done on the detrimental effects of fluoride on the human body. There are also books written on the subject. Some manufacturers are even putting fluoride in infant formulas. That is crazy. Filter your water and stop putting fluoride into your body.

Another reason to filter your water is that there are a lot of prescription drugs that can be found in municipal water supplies. You may be on prescription drugs now, so why would you want to also take what everyone else is taking? Drinking prescription-drug-laced municipal water may even be altering the effectiveness of the prescription drugs you are taking. You may be having side effects as a result of this. Now, this is my opinion, and to me, this only makes sense. However, I am not a physician, so my opinion may not be worth much to you. I can simply say that I always drink filtered water.

In addition to fluoride and prescription drugs, there are also pollutants in municipal water. You don’t need to be taking these in either.

If you are looking for portable water filters, the Katadyn Water Filters are excellent. They have a silver-impregnated ceramic filter that kills all living organisms. Great to have in your 72-hour kits or Go packs. I have used these filters and can recommend them.

I have been told that Berkey Water Filters are wonderful, but I have never used them. They must be great because so many people recommend them.

The bottom line is that you should store water along with your food. In addition, make sure you have some sort of water filtration.

If you have plenty of water either stored or available, you will have one less thing to worry about in the next emergency.

To learn more about water storage, basic preparedness, freeze dried meals, emergency freeze dried food, or Mountain House Freeze Dried Food, please read the Food Storage Blog at:

Emergency Freeze Dried Food Blog

1. Variety – a lot of people only store the four basic items, wheat, milk, honey, and salt. Besides not being a complete diet, you can get “appetite fatigue” for lack of variety.
2. Extended Staples – don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Store dehydrated and freeze dried foods as well as home-canned and store-bought canned goods.
3. Vitamins – must be stored along with your food in order to get the proper nutrition.
4. Quick-and-Easy and Psychological Foods – quick-and-easy foods can help you through the times when you may be under too much stress to cope with preparing food. No-cook foods such as freeze-dried foods are wonderful since they require almost no preparation.
5. Balance – keep balance in mind as you build your food storage. Buy a variety of things rather than a large quantity of one.
6. Containers – always store your bulk foods in food-grade storage containers. You can also buy foods that are in nitrogen-packed #10 cans. Nitrogen will give the food a very long shelf life.
7. Use Your Storage – you must use your food storage in order to know what to do with it. Replace depleted items as necessary, thereby continually rotating your supply.