When it comes to being prepared for an emergency, having clean, drinkable water needs to be at the absolute top of your list. Everyone knows that it’s an essential element of life. You need to have clean water to survive in any type of environment.
The shelf life of emergency drinking water is normally around 5 years from the date of manufacture. They are good for this long because they remove the air and the pouches prevent light from entering the water, eliminating most bacterial growth. Normal bottled water is considered good for around 6 months.
Unfortunately, disasters and emergency situations don’t always give ample warning for people to go out and prepare themselves and their homes. This is why you need to make sure you always have clean, safe water on you at all times. But, how can you actually keep water with you wherever you are?
The answer is actually fairly simple. By keeping emergency water pouches in your home and in your car, you’ll be able to feel confident that you’re prepared for any type of situation. Rather than risking the health and safety of yourself and those around you, these little pouches can end up being literal lifesavers when the time comes.
DATREX Emergency Water Pouches are some of the best on the market.
Here are just a few of the different ways this water supply will be absolutely essential in any sort of emergency.
Emergency Drinking Supply
Without a doubt, the most obvious advantage of having these emergency water pouches on hand will be for drinking. Everyone needs water to stay hydrated and staying hydrated is absolutely essential for your body and your mind to function properly.
How much water to do you need to drink to survive? Find out here!
If you try and go without water for an extended period of time, you can easily end up putting yourself at serious risk for health problems.
The body needs water to do all of these things:
- Regulating body temperature.
- Removing waste from the system.
- Cushion the brain, spinal cord, and joints.
- Absorbing nutrients into the body.
- Prevent certain medical conditions.
Additionally, you never really know how long an emergency situation is going to last, and while these pouches certainly won’t last you forever, they’ll definitely help you make it through the first long stretch without too much difficulty. By staying hydrated, you’ll be able to keep a clear mind and hopefully find a way out of your current situation.
What is the minimum amount of water to survive?
Based on research, the bare minimum that a human needs to survive is 1 liter a day, but experts suggest that you should be drinking 64 oz of water every day to maintain proper hydration. This amount increases if you live in extreme heat or cold and based on your activity level.
Does emergency drinking water expire?
Emergency water pouches technically expire around 5 years after their date of manufacture. However, if the water doesn’t somehow get contaminated, it should remain drinkable for much longer than that.
How long does boxed water last?
If you happen to store boxed water, the expiration date is usually similar to emergency drinking water pouches, 5 years.
Can I drink expired water?
Emergency water supplies don’t just instantly go bad once they hit their expiration date. As long as the pouches or boxes are intact and undamaged, you should be able to drink them for much longer than the expiration date.
Before you drink expired water, I would suggest that you pour it into a bottle or glass and inspect it. If it smells off, is discolored or has anything floating in it, you should filter the water before drinking it.
If you’re in a situation where you don’t have water, you should take steps to make it as drinkable as possible. Don’t just throw it away!
How often should you change emergency water?
Make it a point to change out your emergency water pouches by the time that they expire. You don’t want to be put in a situation where you need to worry about your water not being good.
Keep in mind, water doesn’t ever really expire, it does get contaminated but if you’re able to remove that contamination you can drink it.
How much water do you need for 72 hours?
The bare minimum amount of water that we need is about 34 oz (1 liter) per day, but that isn’t ideal. Ideally, we should consume at least 64 oz a day.
This means that you need 102 oz of water as a minimum for three days and you should aim for closer to 192 oz of water for a three day period.
Being Stranded in a Vehicle
Perhaps you went out for a ride and ended up broken down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Or, maybe, you went out on your boat and the engine gave out and now you’re just drifting away towards the horizon.
No matter what your situation or how you ended up there, being stranded and alone can be absolutely terrifying for a multitude of reasons, especially since you can’t be sure when someone will come your way. Having an emergency water supply on hand can make a world of difference during these already difficult times.
Places to store emergency water pouches:
- Vehicles
- Boats
- Hiking Packs
- Bug Out Bags
- Emergency Kits
- Shelter in Place Kits
While your car or boat may come standard with a few emergency supplies already inside, drinking water isn’t likely to be one of them. Emergency water pouches can remedy that! They last for a long time and don’t take up much space in your vehicle.
If you travel often with your pets, you should add enough water to your vehicles for them as well.
Cooking and Preparing Food
If you store freeze-dried or dehydrated foods in your vehicle or emergency kits, you need to make sure that you have enough water to allow you to cook them or rehydrate them. One way to ensure that you can prepare your food in an emergency is to pair your food with enough emergency water pouches to make cooking them possible.
Preparing Freeze-Dried Foods
Each manufacturer of freeze-dried food has different directions for cooking their food but all of them require water in one way or another. The amount of water is usually between 1/4 and 1 full cup of water.
One cup of water is equal to 8 oz. so you’ll need between 1 and 2 emergency water pouches per freeze-dried meal. Make sure that you plan accordingly.
Caring for Pets
Dogs and cats need about 1 oz of water per lb of bodyweight according to petmd, and they can become dehydrated must faster than you and I. If you have larger dogs, this can end up being a significant amount of water that you’ll have to keep around for them.
Keeping emergency water pouches around can make keeping your pets in good health a lot easier during an emergency.
Conclusion
Water is the most important thing that the human body needs for survival.
You should always aim to have emergency water stored in your home and vehicles. Emergency water pouches make it very easy to safely store water for long periods of time. They take up little space and are already packaged, taking the guesswork out of emergency water storage.
It’s true that they’re not great for storing weeks or months of water for a family, but they’re an amazing way to store water for a couple of days in an emergency kit, vehicle or bug out bag. Plan to store 1 oz of water per lb of your pets per day and 34-64 oz of water per person per day.
