Thoughts on Blue Can Emergency Drinking Water?

CamilleContributor - May 8, 2021

AdviceGear

I was doing some research on how to safely store a supply of emergency water in my vehicle. I am moving to a more tropical climate to start graduate school and temperatures there can climb quite high for the majority of the year, and because it’s a hurricane/flood zone it’s important to have a supply of emergency water in the vehicle in case I need to evacuate.

I have read through the Best Emergency Water Storage Containers for Your Home article by The Prepared team and I think it’s very well researched, but I have concerns about using the home storage containers recommended  (which are plastic) for months at a time in the incredibly high temperatures found in a car in the tropics. Even though it may not be super dangerous to my health to be drinking water stored in plastic at high temperatures for a long period of time in an emergency scenario, I’d still like to avoid it, and I worry about the plastic warping in the heat and losing it’s integrity. I was also looking for a method of water storage that was easy to grab and drink while driving, no pouring out of a larger, potentially heavy and bulky container required. 

I found Blue Can Premium Emergency Drinking Water on Amazon. It basically looks like a pack of aluminum soda cans, except they are filled with water that the Blue Can company claims has a shelf life of 50 years. Reviews on Amazon are quite mixed. It’s about $2 a can after tax and shipping. Does anyone have any experiences (good or bad) with using Blue Can Emergency Drinking Water in their preps? 

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I personally just keep a liter or so of water in my truck.  I have a Sawyer Mini in my get home bag so that is all I really need, as there are plenty of lakes and farm ponds all over the place.  Since you are moving to a tropical climate, I’d think that is all you need too.  Water is heavy to store and takes up lots of room.  I wouldn’t store much if you have access to water that can be filtered.

 

That’s so great that you have researched about and are putting in the time to be prepared. Being in a hot tropical area certainly cuts down on the number of ways you need to be prepared, you don’t have to worry about freezing temperatures and your cans exploding from expansion.

There is one user on this forum who has mentioned owning those Blue Can’s, I hope she sees this post and can comment. I’ve never tried them, but at first glance they don’t look to be that bad. 

Since they are $2 a can, I would have one or two large stainless steel canteens in your car. (we did a review on some good ones) That way if you are just sorta thirsty you can drink from those  and then refill them again. I think I would hold my thirst and not drink enough if I knew that by quenching my thirst on a normal day would cost $2 from one of those cans. And then I would have a couple extra cans in my car on top of those two stainless steel canteens for more long term storage (like if the disaster keeps going on for a couple days), or just to hand to a passenger or stranger who you don’t want to be drinking out of your canteens.

The cans are rated to 150 degrees and according to this website, your car’s dash can get to that temperature in the summer. So keep these cans in the trunk or under a seat to keep them cooler.

Not necessary, but if you do keep a single can under your seat, you may want to rubber band a tongue depressor to it to prevent it from constantly rolling around in your car like this person did to a round package. I thought it was pretty smart.

I wish you the best of luck in your move and hope it’s good for you.

 

@Gideon, I think that user is me! Hi Camille, just seeing this now (stumbled upon it while looking for something else). I share your aversion to using plastic in the car, and have kept a six pack of Blue Can water in my car for years (probably nearly a decade now). I later got a six pack and a 50-can (I think?) flat for my mom several years ago. Haven’t had any problems. My mom lives in cool, foggy San Francisco, and she has a sedan (so, Blue Cans go in the trunk and don’t get direct sun), but I live in the Pacific Northwest and have a hatchback, so my cans take a bit more abuse temperature-wise. They’ve never leaked, in ice storms or heat domes. The six packs come in lightly insulated cooler-style box, which probably helps.

I haven’t ever cracked them open for drinking, so can’t speak to the taste. My partner and I are pretty well trained to keep full Klean Kanteens in each car, bring them in and top them off when they get below ~75%, and put them by the door to grab again when we leave. The stuff in the cupholder is for every day use; the Blue Cans are in the hatchback/trunk *for emergencies*. It’s just habit at this point.

Best of luck with grad school. Been there and have (extensive) critiques, but also many fond memories. 🙂

 

I took a road trip with some girl friends through the Nevada desert and as we were driving we heard this thumping and hissing going on in the rear of the vehicle. It kept going on and we wondered if one of our tires were low  and had a leak. 

Pulled over and opened the trunk and found all of our bags soaked in various soda pops from the 12 packs we had in there. Guess the shielding between the exhaust of the vehicle and the trunk was gone so that floor in the trunk was super duper hot! It boiled the soda cans and they were going off like gun fire back there.

At least with water you wouldn’t have a sticky yicky mess if they exploded.

 

Good morning Camille,

I have no experience with Blue Can brand water because I avoid it and other similiarly packaged waters. My research foundation is what is used in industry life boats and industry cargo aircraft.

Blue Can brand is famous for a long shelf life.  Is this an important criteria for you ?

Some commentary in re the narrative’s requirements incorporating FEMA’s philosophy “Prepare for realistic worst-case scenarios”;

Can you easily open the Blue Can while driving ? Believe it takes two hands. The can cannot be readily used for follow-on uses like a sturdy water bottle.

The “plastic scare” from extreme heat now has substantial research material.  There are various kinds of “plastics” and all do not produce the dangerous benzene.  Some consumer water drinking companies advertise this on the bottle.

Leaving the metal cans in a hot car during tropical heat usually means the water cannot be consumed for the dehydration benefits until it cools.

It could prove advantageous to visit a yuppie type of grocery store … or just an expensive large grocery store …… Walmart might not qualify – nor Aldi – but places like Harris Tweeter do …… and browse around the plastic water bottle section. You’ll see those that are easy to open and refill for when container needed.

A hurricane zone means possible flying debris and flooding. Can you open a Blue Can with hand injuries – as compared to opening a wide top screw-on cap water bottle ?  If any hurricane flood water gets on both types of containers, which is better to rely on ?

Just some early morning views  to provoke thoughts ………

All the best in grad school !