There’s nothing like picking up a glass of water, expecting a nice refreshing drink, only to find it tastes ‘dirty’, ‘dusty’, ‘flat’, or tastes sort of like the chemicals it was treated with. If you’ve ever left a glass out on your nightstand for a day or two, you’ll know exactly that taste. Water gets ‘flat’ just like soda does, and can taste different.
HOW TO MAKE STORED WATER TASTE BETTER
The same goes for the water in your food storage. Over time, the water loses oxygen much like a soda loses carbonation. The result is a flat or dusty or dirty taste that really isn’t there. We’re just so used to drinking water that comes from a tap that is highly oxgygenated from the flow, or from a pump or a stream. It isn’t that the water has gone bad (especially if it’s been pre-treated from a reliable municipal source or you’ve treated it from your well water before storing), it just doesn’t taste as fresh.
An easy way to bring back the fresh water taste can be to quickly pour the water between two containers for about thirty seconds. Use two glasses to pour the water back and forth, or do whole pitcher fulls at a time. This integrates oxygen back into the mix, helping the water taste fresher. Think of the water pump in a fish tank – works on the same principal of forcing oxygen back into the water to help keep the fish alive.
Stale water isn’t bad for you, it’s just not as tasty.
If you find yourself in a situation where you’re having to drink a lot of your water storage due to a boil water ban or an emergency where fresh water just isn’t available, you can give yourself a happy boost is to use flavored powdered drink mixes to boost the flavor! Many come in little travel size pouches, or you can use the make your own storage straw method like I found on Survival at Home. It is a tutorial on how to make fire starter straws, but you can also fill them with spices or drink mixes to add to your emergency stocks!
You can also add elements to make a hot tea to mask the taste. Tea bags or loose tea, mints, lemon and other fruits, pine needles for a big bump of vitamin C, or even dehydrated chicken broth to make a nutritious drink in the winter.
So tuck an envelope or two into your 72 hour kit or bug out bag to help boost your taste buds when the water’s gone kind of flat!
More Emergency Quick Tips Here
If you’d like to test your water to make sure its safe, besides just boiling or using bleach to disinfect it, try these tips on how to test your drinking water.
Tom is a Marketing & Communications graduate interested in nature, gardening, agriculture, and traveling. For the last decade, Tom has turned his hobbies into a full-time job, creating useful resources and guides for all our readers. If he is not working on his next article, you will find Tom spending quality time with family or taking care of his own back garden.
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