Boiling
The age-old, tried-and-true method of purifying water is to boil it. If your municipal water supply is compromised, local officials will issue a “boil water” advisory that instructs you to boil your water for 3 to 12 minutes prior to drinking to kill pathogens. Unless you live at an extremely high elevation, 5 minutes at a rolling boil is long enough to purify the water.
There are two downsides to boiling water: it doesn’t filter out physical contaminants and it uses a tremendous amount of fuel if you’re heating with bottled gas or other finite sources of heat. To help minimize the impact on your fuel supply, boil your water while you’re cooking meals.
Pasteurization
You probably associate pasteurization with milk or juice products, but it’s actually just a fancy name for heating a liquid to 160 degrees F for at least 6 minutes to kill pathogens and other bad “bugs” in a liquid. It works equally as well for water as it does for milk and juice, and uses much less fuel than boiling water for several minutes. There are actually solar products that will heat your water to this temperature; if you use one of those methods, you won’t waste any fuel at all. As with boiling, pasteurization doesn’t remove debris, so you may still want to filter your water before you pasteurize it.
Distillation
This process is pretty complicated, but it produces water that’s extremely clean. To distill your water, you will boil it in an enclosed container that has a hose that allows the steam to escape. The steam then converts back into clean water that collects in another container, leaving the impurities behind.
Chlorine Bleach
Plain old household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is your best friend in an emergency situation. It quite literally kills everything that could possibly harm you in water or on surfaces, and it’s dirt cheap. Simply add ¼ teaspoon to a gallon of water, and give it 30 minutes or so to work and your water is good to go. Use unscented bleach, and change it out every six months or so because it does degrade and lose its effectiveness.
Calcium Hypochlorite, aka Pool Shock
The same stuff that people use to keep their pools clean and clear will do the same for your drinking water, and it’s extremely affordable. Unlike bleach, it doesn’t degrade, and a five-dollar bag will purify about 10,000 gallons of water. There are several different kinds and strengths, so you need to read the label carefully when you’re buying it. Make sure that it’s at least 73 percent sodium chlorite with no other chemicals or harmful additives.
Iodine
Remember the red disinfectant from your childhood that goes on cuts and scrapes and burns like crazy? It’s also good for purifying water. It changes the taste and color of your water, but either liquid 2 percent iodine tincture or commercially available iodine tablets will work. Iodine isn’t completely effective when it comes to killing harmful protozoa that can make you sick, but if you add 8 drops of liquid iodine to a gallon of clear water or 16 drops per gallon of cloudy water, it will kill most bacteria and viruses.
Water Purification Tablets (Chlorine Dioxide)
These are perhaps the easiest way to kill everything in water that could harm you, especially if you have to leave your home, but they take about four hours to work. They don’t expire and they don’t change the taste or color of your water, so they are great options whether you’re in your home or have to leave in a hurry. Make them part of your emergency supply and add some to your bug-out bag as well.
UV Light Purification
Several different types of ultraviolet light machines are used to purify water, but to be truthful, they are much less effective than heat or chemical purification methods. The water has to be clear, and UV light doesn’t kill viruses. Considering how easy the other more effective methods are, this just isn’t the way to go as far as most preppers are concerned.
As you can see, there are many different options at your disposal when you’re making plans to meet your water purification needs. Which one you choose is entirely up to you, and you should base your decision on what type of disaster you’re planning for and what your individual water needs are. The most important thing is that you do prepare, because without water, you won’t make it for long.
SECTION 2
Water-Bath and Pressure Canning
• Chapter 4: Water-Bath versus Pressure Canning
• Chapter 5: Getting Started with Water-Bath Canning
• Chapter 6: Preserving Jellies, Jams, and other Sweet Spreads
• Chapter 9: Salsas and Relishes
• Chapter 10: Getting Started with Pressure Canning
• Chapter 11: Pressure Canning Recipes
4
WATER-BATH VERSUS PRESSURE CANNING
Learning to preserve food via canning is a great way to efficiently stock many different types of food for both daily use and emergency preparedness at a minimal cost. Another benefit is that you know exactly what goes into your jars; you don’t have to worry about hidden chemicals or loads of sodium.
Canning a variety of foods allows you to eat whatever you want at whatever time of year you like, and it will be just as delicious as when it was harvested. Remember that fresh fruits and vegetables from your own garden or from a farmers’ market are the best choices for canning. When done correctly, canning also preserves most of the nutrients in your foods, so in an emergency situation, you’ll still be well fed and you won’t need to worry about food fatigue.
Nearly anything you like can be made and canned, ranging from simple meals to delicious side dishes, condiments, and even complex desserts. Basically, what you preserve through canning is limited only by your imagination and a few basic rules.
Avoiding Botulism
For canning, foods are divided into two groups according to pH levels: strong-acid foods and strong-alkali (low-acid) foods. To prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum, the microorganism that causes botulism, each group has its
