The Best Containers for Storing Water (and the Ones to Skip)

Food-grade jugs, 7-gallon cubes, 55-gallon barrels and bathtub bladders, compared from my basement.

I've tried nearly every container, including some mistakes. Here's what earned shelf space.

Good choices

• Commercial bottled water: sealed and dated. The easiest way to start.
• Food-grade 5–7 gallon jugs (HDPE #2): stackable and liftable. My favorite for apartments.
• 15–55 gallon blue barrels: the most water per square foot, but you'll need a pump and a spot it never has to move from.
• Bathtub bladders: fill one when a storm is forecast. Short-term only.

Skip these

• Milk jugs: they break down and are hard to clean.
• Anything that has ever held chemicals.
• Clear containers stored in sunlight.

Placement

Keep containers off bare concrete (a pallet or a board works), away from gasoline and paint, and somewhere cool and dark.

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