Keeping supplied.

[peacetara]

I grew up out in the country, but I've been living in cities most of my adult life, and now I'm back out wanting to get into the country, and every time I go park on BLM land, or NF or whatever, it seems I'm always low on something or other and have to cut my time short, to head in for stuff.<br><br>So I'm trying to keep in the habit of always having enough that I can go a week or two at least, but it seems I always forget SOMETHING! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/tongue.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br><br>Usually it's water.&nbsp; I'm really bad about that. I can go thru 2+ gallons a day, with cooking, and drinking (I drink well over a gallon of water every day myself). But I run short/out of all sorts of things all the time.<br><br>So I find myself spending more time in cities, near a place where I can easily fill up my water, or whatever, instead of out in nature where I'd rather be.&nbsp; When I do get out in nature, I only get to spend a few days, or maybe a week if I happen to be KNOW I'm going out in nature.&nbsp; A lot of times I just happen to be wherever I happen to be.<br><br id="tinymce" class="mceContentBody ">I guess what I need to do is keep extras of all the things I usually keep, and maybe I should carry even MORE water around (right now, when I'm full of water, I'm at 12 gallons)&nbsp; I have 1 5 gallon jug, and it's just heavy enough that it's a pain to deal with, so normally it sits full in the corner, and I just don't use it if I can avoid it, and I call it my 'emergency water'.<br><br>It seems my gypsy, wandering, nomad lifestyle is at odds with the always be well supplied lifestyle <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br><br>How does everyone keep well supplied, and what does "well supplied" look like?<br><br>With Love,<br>Tara

 

[ice_maiden]

Tara there are camping systems and chemical tablets for water purification if you are near any water but it is not a subject that I am familiar with so I will let someone else chime in on the water issue... <br><br>as for food supplies look into dehydrated foods.&nbsp; You can buy everything from powered sour cream and Worcestershire sauce to dried fruits and vegetables.&nbsp; This gives you many options for carrying lots of supplies in a small space without refrigeration.&nbsp; One thing I always keep on hand is Nido which is powered whole milk. And much better than boxed powdered milk. I use it as substitute for regular milk.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can sometimes find this in the Mexican food section of wal-mart and other grocery stores... careful though a little goes a long way... When I first started using it I put about half a table spoon in my oatmeal... it tasted like I used cream.<br><br>I wrote a couple of articles on my blog about dehydrated foods and where to find them.

 

[Willy]

&nbsp;Water is the big one when it comes to supplies. When camping out in the desert my motto is 'Too much is never enuf.' Food.. got at least a month's worth, if not more, squirreled away. ..Willy.

 

[Wild_E]

Interesting !<br>Yesterday I went an bought $75 worth of dry goods at a Grain Supplier called Grain Process in Toronto Canada.<br>Think I saved about $150 + dollars doing so. buy in bulk and keep them in 5 gal plastic food grade pails or in mylar, or in small useable sized container and put the rest inside a vacuum pack of some sort inside a cooler/metal container to keep the rodents out!&nbsp;<br><br>I suggest to always carry water, 5 gal minimum spring/summer/fall for drinking then what you need in Winter time, which varies depending on your vehicle. Plastic should not be frozen water, breaks down the plastic. This way you can filter water for cooking/drinking and&nbsp;determine&nbsp;if you need it filtered for washing cloths etc.&nbsp;<br><br>Hope this helps<br><br>Water.&nbsp;<br>Make or buy your own Water Treatment system. <br>Online look for Berkey filters, home made on YouTube.&nbsp;<br><br>mine is from&nbsp;<br>Sawyer<br>http://www.sawyer.com/outdoor.html<br>here is what I have&nbsp;<br><img rel="lightbox" src="http://www.sawyer.com/images/SP122L.jpg" class="bbc_img"><br><strong style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Sawyer 3 Way Water Filter&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[SP122]</strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><br style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">This convenient filter can be used as an inline filter on a hydration pack, a pre-filter for an existing pump system with the provided faucet adapter, or with a gravity bag. Includes: Sawyer PointONE™ 0.10 Absolute Micron Inline Water Filter, Faucet Adapter, Hydration Pack Assembly Kit, Cleaning and Maintenance Instructions. Weight: 1.8 ounces. Life Expectancy: 1 Million Gallons Guaranteed.</span><br><br>also<br><br>Ceramic Filters and info here<br>http://www.doulton.ca/cs0700.html<br><br><br>LifeStraw water filters<br>http://eartheasy.com/lifestraw/?utm_source=adroll&amp;utm_campaign=retargeting<br><br><br>

 

[Willy]

&nbsp;I have something like that LifeStraw filter that I've kept in my emergency kit for something like a decade now. Haven't had to use it, but better safe than sorry. ..Willy.

 

[twokniveskatie]

Good thread. I was going to pick up a sawyer squeeze filter this weekend. Will check out the three way before I do that.

 

[Wild_E]

Katie,&nbsp;<br>I love my Sawyer. You can fill a pop bottle then turn it upside down and drain into the Sawyer, filling a clean container. You can also run a tap with very low pressure and do the same, but found it easier to just fill from jug to jug.<br><br>Also for the price the Lifestraw is an awesome piece of KIT !!<br>very small, very lightweight so if your boating or hiking awesome. You can also fill a bottle turn the straw upside down and filter into another container for fresh water. That way you do not have to spit out the clean water into the pot to cook anything with.. LOL..

 

[peacetara]

I have a water filter, for backpackers, but I've never ever used it.&nbsp; The places where I was camping close to water, well I happened to have plenty of water WITH me, so I didn't need to use it <img src="/images/boards/smilies/tongue.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br><br>I did try a few times, I went searching for water, and I even found on maps, stream here, so I go there, and sure enough there WAS a stream there, but not anymore. Or at least not above ground.&nbsp; GRR <img src="/images/boards/smilies/tongue.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[Wild_E]

Not sure where you camp at all, if it rains you can collect the rain water easy enough, filter it and drink it.<br><br>Yes, in the Summer the water runs dry here as well, unless it is a bigger river. With the proper filter your set though, if there is even some water. Look up how to make some easy solar stills and solar/dew water collectors. Might help to lengthen the stay &nbsp;a bit.&nbsp;

 

[owl]

tara, sorry to have to tell you this but we all age. So--write it down, list, list, list. At an expedition rendevoux held in the desert of SoCal a couple of weekends back I saw a 7 gallon soft container for water. Think of a camelback but 7 gallons. The advantage to this is when its empty it rolls up--takes up less space. I forget the name (age, tara) but I'm sure a Google search would turn up plenty. I also bet our down under buddies have some good ideas for water storage. rok? paws?

 

[Guest]

their a little more now, but i bought my water filter from monolithic marketplace, titled "just water".<br>i paid 37$ for the spigot, ceramic filter with sleeve and the washers. i already had the buckets. that was with S/H too.<br><br>what i liked about it, besides being cheap, is that it still works great and i could use any size bucket i wanted. i used two 2-gallon buckets so i could lift it when full. it is supposed to make up to 7 gallons a day, but i can usually get 3 gals, easily. i can turn on the spigot and drain into a couple 1 gal containers to stock up.<br>it works best with rainwater. my son and i made ours in 1/2 hour. used dremmel tool to make small hole then pushed spigot and washers on that. once every 2 weeks of daily use, i clean it all out, scrub the filter, and shake it. thats to reactivate the charcoal in the filter. it makes the best water. i also drilled a couple small air holes in top of bucket to release pressure. <br>i imagine you could use larger or smaller buckets. i used what i had. let me see if i have a pic?

 

[twokniveskatie]

WR- thanks so much for the heads up. Ive been doing some research and what i've come up with is that Sawyers 3-way, squeeze and walmart filter bottles all use the same inline filter cartridge....what differs is the attachments and adaptors each comes with. Most reviews I have read are pretty equally in favor of each model depending on anticipated use.

The 3 way is about $10 more and has the faucet extension. The squeeze comes with the collapsible bottles and needs $5 adaptors to work inline with a hydration reservoir. The walmart bottle is cheapest, and needs someone good at rigging stuff up like macgyver.

My initial thinking is that I would not necessarily need a faucet extension nor to use it with the hydration reservoir.i will probably get the squeeze and the adapters to set up a gravity system with my dromedary bag or platypus bladders. My dividend is at REI along with the 20% of coupon, so it will essentially be free.

Good to see you around!

 

[rokguy]

<EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Hi Tara,<BR>In Oz its further between towns when you get away from the cities so country Aussies naturally hoard&nbsp;food.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">&nbsp;When I'm living aboard the yacht, I'm alway thinking of my water storage and allow 1 gallon (4ltrs) of water per person per day. I installed 3 bladder water tanks (under the cabin sole/floorboards)&nbsp; which gives a combined storage of (600ltrs) around 160gallons&nbsp;+ there is a canvas bimini&nbsp;I set up to catch rain&nbsp;water after maybe a gallon of flushing water cleans it.<BR></SPAN></STRONG></EM><IMG class=bbc_img src="http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn...kzym/v/vspfiles/photos/B2282-2.jpg?1353513360" rel="lightbox"><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888"><BR>&nbsp;As far as food is concerned aboard ship there's lots of&nbsp;rice, cous cous, pasta, I always keep a store of&nbsp;backup tinned foods,&nbsp;meats, tuna, soups, as well as long life tortilla's,rice crackers,&nbsp;powered soy milk and boxed tofu.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">I apply the same principle to the&nbsp;motorhome as I often work in some really isolated places, obviously can't carry as much water but will carry portable bladder water tanks with me and get as close to my destination as possible, fill them up in the last town&nbsp;en route, lay them out on the floor till I get there and store them onsite in the cool under the motorhome. Similar food stores but take notice of local farms close by selling eggs, vegies, meat. Will get on my bike and recon the general area when I'm there for such places.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">All else fails write down a list of the food you&nbsp;like to eat per week and budget /&nbsp;buy it to last that time (as Willy said a months worth is good)&nbsp;or scounge off another happy camper nearby (just for one night till you get to the shop) . I've given others some of my food in the past so I hope someone will return the favour.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Between the two I'm always rotating the stock so it does get used and is not waisted.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Geoff</SPAN></STRONG></EM>

 

[Wild_E]

How do you move the bladder when it is full, isn't it too&nbsp;floppy?

 

[rokguy]

<EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Wilderness,</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">&nbsp;I have another spare one I siphon some water into on the ground when I get there, then drag the other one out half full (on a carpet square, not as heavy this way) these things a bloody tuff and don't taint the water.</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Geoff</SPAN></STRONG></EM>