Household Readiness
My Neighbor Is the Most Level-Headed Woman on Our Street. This Spring She Showed Me the One Thing She Keeps for Her Grandkids.
When the power stays out, the water can go with it. Here's the little one-time fix I wish somebody had shown me years ago, over a fence, with a cup of coffee.
Dorothy Hensley · Grandmother of five, Tennessee
Updated November 2026 · 9 min read
Sit down a minute. I've got something to say, because nobody ever said it to me.
I don't worry.
You can ask my children. I raised two of them and buried a husband, and I don't sit up nights over the news. I don't hoard canned goods. And nobody's going to catch me calling myself a "prepper." Lord, what a word.
So hear this the way I mean it. This spring I bought a little something for my grandbabies.
I wasn't scared. I'd just been a fool about something for 71 years, and it took Joan next door to show me.
Joan doesn't get worked up
Joan and I have talked over the same back fence for 11 years. Nothing rattles her. I've watched that woman handle a kitchen fire, a burst pipe and a son-in-law, and I've never once seen her raise her voice.
So when she came out to that fence one morning in April with her coffee, and said, "Dorothy, I need to tell you what happened to Beth," I put down my watering can.
A winter storm had taken the power out of her daughter's whole town. Four days of it. No heat. No lights.
And then the thing you'd never think to worry about.
The water.
What I never knew
Joan laid it out for me right there, the two of us holding our cups.
When the power stays out, the water can go with it.
I stood there with my mouth open. Seventy-one years old, and I'd never once thought about it.
The pumps that send water to your house are electric. So is the plant that cleans it before it gets to your kitchen sink. Shut off the electricity long enough, and that whole business slows down.
Then it quits.
By midweek, what ran out of Beth's tap wasn't fit for her children. She boiled every drop for weeks. And she was the lucky one, with a gas stove. Those poor babies, with their little cups.
"It isn't only her, either," Joan said. She'd looked it up, the way she does.
- Texas, 2021. More than 14 million Texans were affected by boil water notices at one point during that freeze, according to Fox 5.
- Jackson, Mississippi, 2022. More than seven weeks under a boil-water notice, according to Fox Weather.
- Asheville, North Carolina, 2024. A 53-day water crisis after Helene, according to WUNC.
Fifty-three days. And nobody even did that on purpose. That was weather.
And it isn't just a nuisance. I got on the computer and read the CDC's page on E. coli myself. It says children under 5 and adults 65 and older are more likely to get infected. That's my grandbabies and me, on the same list.
I was sure I had it covered. Then I got out a pencil.
You're thinking what I thought.
I'll put a few cases out in the garage, and that'll be that.
So that night I sat down at the kitchen table, which I never do with a pencil, and worked it out on the back of an envelope.
The CDC says plan on a gallon a person, per day. That's for drinking, cooking, cleaning up and brushing your teeth.
Well, when all of mine come home, that's nine people, counting the little ones. And where do you think they'd all come if the lights went out? To Grandma's.
That's nine gallons, every single day.
A case of bottled water holds about three gallons.
So it takes three whole cases just to get my family through one single day.
Two weeks, like the CDC says if you can? That's 42 cases. That's more than half a ton of water. I'm 71, with a bad shoulder and a Buick.
And on the morning you open the last one, you're done. A case doesn't refill itself, and the creek won't do it for you.
Arithmetic was never my subject, but even I could read that. A garage full of water isn't a plan. It's a clock, and you can't even see the face of it.
I went to bed that night and didn't sleep much. So much for not worrying.
See What Joan Showed Me★★★★★ 4.8 stars, 2,318 reviews
What Joan did instead
The next morning I was back at that fence before she'd finished her toast.
"Joan, how many cases have you got?"
She laughed. She doesn't keep cases. What she has is a lot smarter, and I felt silly when I saw it.
She pulled a little red straw out of her cardigan pocket. It weighed nothing.
"You don't keep the water," she said. "You keep the thing that makes water fit to drink."
One end goes down in fresh water. The rain barrel. A pond. The bathtub, if you've got the sense to fill it first. You drink out of the other end. No plug. No batteries. No standing over a stove you can't light.
And it doesn't run out on you by Thursday. If there's fresh water anywhere you can walk to, you've got something to drink.
No clock on that. You just have it.
The one she keeps, and now I do too
It's the MINIMLS straw. Here's what brought me around.
I don't have to get down at a creek. You can sip straight out of the water with it, sure. But it also threads right onto a plain water bottle. Fill the bottle, turn it upside down over a glass, and squeeze. I can't get down on these knees anymore, and I don't have to.
It strains the water finer than I can picture. Down to 0.01 micron, and don't ask me to draw you a picture. Joan's grandson told me a human hair is about 70. What I took away from it was this. It's rated to take out 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa, the tiny germs that put you in bed, like E. coli and Giardia. It catches tiny bits of plastic too.
And it told me the truth. That's what made a believer of me, and Joan didn't dress it up.
"It's a filter, Dorothy. Not a magic wand."
It won't take out viruses, chemicals, heavy metals or salt. If viruses are a worry, you boil it or put in purifying tablets. If the water smells of gas or chemicals, you pour it out. When you're on a rain barrel or a pond, it's the bacteria and the parasites this one is for.
If a salesman says one little straw does everything, check your wallet.
What settled it for me
I own plenty of things I bought for emergencies. Half of them have dead batteries. My real fear wasn't that I didn't own something.
It was that I'd reach for it on the one day it counted, and it wouldn't work.
So I looked it over the way I'd look over a used car. No battery to go dead. No moving parts. And no expiration date when it's stored dry. Keep it from freezing, and let it dry before it goes back. Then it just waits in the drawer. No date to fuss over.
What one little straw gives you
One straw is rated for 1,800 gallons.
I had to sit with that one. That's more than 550 cases of bottled water, and years of clean water for one person, pulled from a clear creek, pond or rain barrel in walking distance.
Now look again at those 42 cases, and me out there with my bad shoulder.
I don't need a calculator for that one.
And a child can work it. The first few pulls are stiff, I'll warn you. Give it 3 to 5 and then it goes. My littlest grandbaby had it figured out in about ten seconds, and then she wanted to try it on the birdbath. I told her not the birdbath. She's six.
What I went and got
One wasn't going to do it. I knew that before I got back in the house.
Each of the grandbabies got one. So did my daughter, her husband and my son. So did all of their cars. Then I ordered extra for folks I love who'd put it off till Judgment Day. You know who I mean. You might be married to one.
And when you put one in your daughter's hand, you aren't handing her the end of the world. It's a little red straw for the kitchen drawer. She can forget about it until the day she can't.
My son-in-law gave me that look he has. Fine. It's riding in his glovebox, and someday he'll thank the old nag.
I gave one to my pastor's wife. I gave one to the widower down the street, who said, "Oh, Dorothy, I don't need that." I said, "I know you don't. Put it in the drawer anyway."
It's in the drawer.
A word about waiting
You see to a thing like this ahead of time, or you don't get to see to it at all.
There's a storm on the news at noon, and the water shelf is bare by supper. Everybody's driving all over creation hunting for cases that left an hour ago.
I've done my share of waiting in lines. Not that line, not with a thirsty grandbaby at my elbow. Neither should you.
Emergency Preparedness Sale ends in
- Filters 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa
- Rated for 1,800 gallons
- No batteries, no pump, no expiration when stored dry
Up to 67% off. Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you. Not sold on Amazon. 100,000+ happy customers.
From the MINIMLS team: how to do what Dorothy did
You don't need a bunker. You need the bare minimum, and for water, here's what that is.
- 0.01 micron hollow-fiber membrane, four stages. Removes 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa, including E. coli, Salmonella, Cholera, Giardia, Cryptosporidium and Legionella.
- Rated for 1,800 gallons. Tested to the rated figures.
- Third-party lab tested for bacteria and protozoa removal, and pressure-tested for membrane integrity, seal strength and leak resistance.
- 2 ounces. About 8 inches. No batteries, no pump, no moving parts. BPA-free, FDA food-contact-compliant materials.
- No expiration date when stored dry.
- 4.8 stars from 2,318 reviews.
And because Dorothy is right about the truth: it doesn't remove viruses, chemicals, heavy metals or salt. Keep some stored water too. A Do Not Drink notice calls for it.
The rule is one per person, plus one for the go-bag.
Five straws bought singly would cost $149.95. The Family Pack is 5 straws, 1 free included, for $79.99. That's $69.96 less, about $16 a straw. Got a big family like Dorothy's? 10, 2 of them free, are $129.99, and that's a lot of drawers.
Can Grandma manage it? Thread it on a bottle and squeeze. If she's got the hands to open a jar, she's got this.
What if it isn't for you? Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you. Unused or used. You can't lose anything but the bother of writing us an email.
You've got two choices, the way Dorothy sees it
You can leave it on the list with the gutters, like most of us. Then the lights go out, the tap's not fit, and the list doesn't matter.
Or you can take care of it today, while the Emergency Preparedness Sale is running and it can all get to you in time. Put a few in the drawer. Then go on with your life.
She'll tell you which one lets her sleep.
Emergency Preparedness Sale: up to 67% off.
Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you. Unused or used.
Well packed, all there. Haven't needed it yet, hope I don't.
Connie R.Was afraid it'd be an odd gift. My brother-in-law asked where to get more.
Gail M.Ordered Monday, here the next Monday. Works as described.
Lou C.
Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you.
Get the Family Pack: 5 Straws for $79.9930-day money back.
P.S. from Dorothy: Forget all the rest, but keep that envelope in mind. Two weeks of water for my family is 42 cases. Or it's a little red straw in everybody's drawer. Same job, and only one of them fits in a Buick.
P.P.S. from Dorothy: A cold night won't finish you. A dark one won't either. Without clean water, you're counting in days, not weeks, and so is a five-year-old. So I took care of water before anything else.
Sources, checked November 1, 2026: CDC, emergency water supply guidance and E. coli pages. Fox 5 on Texas, 2021. Fox Weather on Jackson, 2022. WUNC on Asheville, November 18, 2024. EPA on hair width.