Water Sanitation Using Heat and Bleach

When you are having to sit a hurricane out in your home or other building, the most important thing that you need to have plenty of is clean water. Hurricanes are often something that we can prepare for in the United States, since we can typically see them coming, but failing to pay attention to the weather reports during hurricane season does happen to some of us.

You should have on hand about a gallon of clean water for every person staying with you. This will be used up in a day’s time, so having one gallon for every person for every day you expect the storm to last plus a few is a good idea.

Having a gas powered electricity generator is something else that you might want to have on hand, especially if you might not have enough water. If the electricity goes out and you run out of water, you will not be able to boil any water to make sure that it is sanitary before you drink it. During storms like this you should never assume that the tap water is alright to drink. Local water treatment plants could be contaminated with all kinds of things during this inclement weather and you should never drink it until the storm clears and your local government okays it.

Boiling water is the best way to sanitize it if you have no other means of doing so, such as a high quality water filter. Bring the water to a boil and keep it like this for about 5 to 10 minutes. Covering the boiling pot of water should shorten the time necessary to get the water boiling and will help you save fuel.

Liquid Clorox bleach can also be used to sanitize water. It can be used to purity tap water and make it safe for you to drink. This will kill any bacteria and microorganisms living in it and the process is fairly simple.

Any water should be let to stand in a container until any debris or sediment settles to the bottom. The clear water should be poured into another container, leaving the water still containing sediment in the bottom of the first one. You only need to use a couple of drops of bleach per quart of water.

As a backup for boiling and bleach, you can also purchase water purification tablets at most outdoor supply stores. People who go camping or hiking often take these with them in case they need them, but you can also benefit from keeping a few on hand.

Mold and Your Food

We’ve all had mold in our refrigerator at some point or another, but most of us just accept that this is going to happen and there’s not much that we can do about it. Food ages in our refrigerator whether it’s a piece of fruit, a vegetable, or a jar of grape jelly and becomes moldy over time. This mold spreads to the other items in our fridge and contaminates them, as well. What can you do about it?

Well, storing your food in your refrigerator properly is one of the most important things that you can do. Mold, bacteria, and mildew will start to grow in your fridge if you don’t. Check your food items in the fridge regularly and if anything is showing signs of mold growth, remove it immediately.

Don’t leave cracked egg shells in the carton. Bacteria exists on the outside of the egg shells and once on the inside, even if you’ve removed most of the egg, some of it still remains on the inside of the shell and bacteria will feed on it.

There are some general rules if you find food that has mold growing on it. There are some kinds of cheeses that are made with mold, but sometimes we see a spot of it that shouldn’t be there, like on a block of cheddar cheese. You don’t have to throw the whole block away, just take a clean knife and cut off the moldy part. It’s best to cut about an inch around and an inch underneath the spot to make sure that it doesn’t contaminate the rest of the block and don’t touch your knife to the mold. Don’t bother trying to save any soft cheeses or individual slices or sour cream.

You should follow the same rule for things like country ham and hard salami. If it’s covered with mold, though, toss it.

Any fruits and vegetables that are showing mold can be treated this way as long as they’re hard natured. Soft ones like plums or tomatoes should be thrown away if you see mold.

Any grains that you see with mold on them should be thrown away immediately. Be careful about any organic food that you buy; these don’t contain any pesticides or preservatives, they’re more likely to have mold growth.

Any tissue in potatoes that looks black or discolored in any way should be cut off.