shelf life of bottled water

What would be the shelf life of bottled water? Just the type you purchase at the grocery store.

If the bottle is sealed and you keep it in a cool,dark,dry place, indefinitely.

The canned water had an expiration date on it. And once it hit that date it tasted like canned water really bad. It was packaged by Budweiser and is used for emergency water to like Hurricane areas and stuff.
Not sure if the bottled water has an expiration date or note though.

Still though I`d drink old water over recycled water any day.

reply to post by q_ball


As a previous poster mentioned before.
As long it was sealed, in a bottle, it will last for a very very long time.
Bottled water is overpriced, for something that should be free.

Cheers
Brady

There are a few issues here. They are making some of the bottles out of pretty toxic plastics nowadays (containing xenoestrogens and dioxins). They are also adding fluoride to it.

If you were to store water, you would want a grade of plastic designed for that and also without the toxic additives.

If one wanted to store water indefinitely, they really would need a good storage vessel such as big glass jugs.

i have heard once a bottle of water reaches a certain temp that some chemicals are released into the water... probably no worse for you then tap water...but still

Originally posted by mblaze2023
There are a few issues here. They are making some of the bottles out of pretty toxic plastics nowadays (containing xenoestrogens and dioxins). They are also adding fluoride to it.

If you were to store water, you would want a grade of plastic designed for that and also without the toxic additives.

If one wanted to store water indefinitely, they really would need a good storage vessel such as big glass jugs.

Blaze is absolutely right its the container that will contaminate it. There are places locally where I can drink water out of a bore-well that took several million years to get there. What about fresh water in icebergs, water is old it won't go off - but it can get contaminated.

Which plastics water / food containers are safe?

As this site explains, the key deducing which chemicals were used in making your bottle are found within the "recycle" symbol on the bottom of the container. The little triangle of "chasing arrows" will contain a number. Basically, the unsafe numbers include

1, 3, 6, and 7

The others are considered "safer."

As with all survival cache, the trick is to keep them dark, cool, and to rotate them every six months. Flushing them periodically and replacing with fresh product will reduce your phtalate intake.


The other thing to remember is that even without these chemicals, you'll need to "recondition" water that has sat for months and month. Chemical purification (iodine or chlorine) plus filtration (homemade carbon filter is o.k.) will make the water refreshing again.

reply to post by dowhatyoufear3


Basically any container that contains BPA should be used within 3 months and not allowed to have reached temperatures of more than 160 degrees (don't store in your car, etc.).

"Regular" hard plastic jugs not containing BPA should be used within a year if stored in a cool place. If left long enough, or in high enough heat, ANY plastic container that is not "Food Grade" will leach chemicals into the water inside.

"Food Grade" water containers are good for about 5 years, especially if you have included something like colloidal silver or an oxygen-enabled purifier (but NOT chlorine) when you filled it. Make sure you use a "food grade" hose and a charcoal filter when filling these containers (both available where RV supplied are sold).

reply to post by q_ball


Plastic water bottles can pick up chemicals near them and polute the water inside. If you store water in your garage next to the weed killer, your unopened water could poison you.

I stored plastic water bottles in my storm shelter and they imploded from the heat.

The water bottles I have bought expire in about a year.

Someone told me not to put plastic water bottles directly on the cement floor because toxic chemicals will bleed into the bottle from the cement.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


Thanks for the info, I was thinking about a cache of water in 3 liter soda bottles. Checked the recycle logo, and they are a "1". Wonder how long they sat on the store shelf before consumption. YIKES! Since they are so easily obtainable I may still use them, and just use the water for cleaning, or barter.
Glass "Ball" jars are fairly inexpensive, and if sealed after heating you would know your seal was good by the "pop" when you opened them.

In general its a good idea to change any bottled tap water every six months as well as keeping it out of the Sun . In New Zealand the beginning and ending of daylight savings is a useful time to do this . A method of boiling the water when the power is off is also useful .

Cheers xpert11.

We use bleached plastic orange juice jugs for handy size and short power outages. For extended power outages we have a boat load of the five gallon water dispenser jugs. For the animals and the toilet we just dip water out of the swimming pool (no winterizing done to it) and while there's power we keep a stock tank heater going in it. If the power's out we just break the ice on top and dip out the water below the ice. The pool has never frozen solid... yet.