Last year I decided to step up my water storage plan and looked into getting some 55 gallon plastic drums/barrels I could store inside. My main rationale for this decision was that I wanted potable water on hand that would be immediately useable in an emergency. Sure I have means to collect, filter and purify found water sources, but I wanted the piece of mind knowing I have enough water on hand to get through most short duration emergencies or utility interruptions (water main break). After a lot of looking around at used drums in my area on Craigslist, FB marketplace, etc. I came to the conclusion that saving some money to buy a used drum where I would not be 100% certain of the previous contents wasn’t work the risk. Cleaning and sanitizing any drum, even new, is mandatory, but without knowing exactly what was in a used drum previously, I wouldn’t want to risk ingesting water stored in there, no less give it to my family. This led me down the path of finding where I could source new drums, for a reasonable price. After some looking around at different vendors, I found that the online restaurant stores were the best vendors for both price per drum and shipping rates. These stores tended to have shipping rates lower than if I were to buy direct from a manufacturer. As of today I can buy one 55 gal drum from The Restaurant Store for ~$109 shipped. When considering the price it would cost to buy the equivalent 5-7gal water storage containers to equal 55gal, $109 is actually a pretty good deal. And if buying more than one drum, the shipping rates do no go up so much that it becomes cost prohibitive. Also, I found that one 55gal drum takes up less space that the equivalent volume of individual water storage containers. Sure there are new challenges that come with a bulk storage container, it won’t be easy to move, can’t really be transported when full, need a way to get water out of the container, weight can be a factor depending on where stored, etc. but for me these weren’t a big issue.

Welcome everyone! As you can see, we're still under construction. I highly recommend checking out the classroom tab above. ☝️ There, you'll find an early class I put together for basic preparedness. I also did a live class on "Disaster Planning" over a year ago here in Pennsylvania. I highly recommend turning on "captions." The sound quality isn't the greatest. I want to thank you all! Feel free to share any information on preparedness, disasters, etc. This was created to build community and share ideas and information to help us with what's on the horizon. Chris aka The Emergency Expert