How much water does one person need for two weeks?

The short answer

Fourteen gallons. That is one gallon per day for drinking, cooking and basic washing, and it weighs about 117 pounds in total.

Gallons

117 lb

What it weighs

7-gallon jugs

The problem here is not space, and pretending otherwise is why it never gets done

Fourteen gallons is two seven-gallon jugs. It is the corner of a closet, the bottom of a wardrobe, the gap behind the sofa. Nobody living alone has ever genuinely lacked the room for it. What actually happens is that one person has no one else depending on them, so the job never becomes urgent, and a household of one is also the household most likely to be entirely alone when something goes wrong. If you buy nothing else this month, buy two jugs and fill them from the tap. The whole task is about ten minutes.

Tap water in your own containers, not bottled

At this volume people reach for cases of bottled water, and it is the worse option. Commercial bottles are thin, they crack when stacked, and fourteen gallons of them is over a hundred separate bottles to find space for. Two food-grade jugs filled from your own tap cost less, stack properly, and last. Municipal tap water is already treated, so it stores well in a sealed, opaque container kept off a concrete floor and away from light.

Rotate it twice a year, on a date you already remember

Stored tap water does not expire in any meaningful sense, but it goes flat and it can pick up plastic taste over a long stretch. Tip it out and refill twice a year and you will never think about it again. Attach it to something you already do, like the clock change, rather than inventing a reminder you will ignore.

Keep track of your 14 gallons as you actually buy them.

Provision Planner counts the water already in your house against the target on this page, and tells you how many days you really cover. Your household and gallon figure carry across, so there is nothing to type in twice.

See how many days you cover

The next questions, answered

Is one gallon a day really enough for one person?

It is the standard planning figure and it covers drinking, cooking and basic washing. It does not cover flushing a toilet, which takes more water per flush than you drink in a day. If your water is off rather than just your power, plan for that separately.

Can I store it in old milk jugs?

Not well. Milk jugs are designed to biodegrade and they split at the seams within months, usually while you are not looking. Juice bottles and soda bottles made of PET are fine if washed thoroughly. Purpose-made water jugs are better and cost very little.

Water is one part of it. See the full supply plan for this household, which covers the food alongside it.