A few times I have taken a water bottle where it was liquid, until I cracked open the seal, then it turned into a water slushy. It's still perfectly drinkable, but I just prefer my water not to be chunky.

Yeah like already said the 500ml bottled water works perfectly, no need to make it any more difficult.

Yep, I pulled the water from my truck because over time the water and bottles got funky. I'll take ~5 gal of water on long road trips: 3 gal in a polycarb jug and 1 1/2 in the MSR Dromedary Bag for contingencies and then another gal on ice in a cooler specifically for drinking. Otherwise, I no longer store water in the truck.

Thanks - I'm going to try it. ( Naglenes 3/4 full)

i live in Ontario so get to deal with this. i find that filling bottles about 1/2-3/4 full, and storing them rightside-up or upsidedown, works best. this allows room for expansion and keeps the opening clear so the melted water can come out.

For what its worth, I've had gallon water bottles stored in a car overnight at temperatures as low as about 15F, and they did not freeze. If it did start to instantaneously freeze, there was usually enough water for a dehydrated breakfast pouch.

At least with the ones I have used, the bottles (either gallon or pint size) seem to freeze just fine. The indentation in the side of the gallon jugs pop out. The bottom of the pint size bottles seems to push out, rendering them unable to stand on their own.

Simply leaving an air gap in a bottle will allow room for expansion, and most bottles can then be frozen safely, as others have stated.

BUT frozen water is basically useless you can get it out of the bottle drink it.

If you are presented with a bottle of frozen water, what would you do with it ? You need to turn it back into water and get it out of the bottle. How will you do that ? What equipment will you need ? How long will it take ?

When we winter camp, we turn the bottles upside down. If the bottle starts to freeze, the ice generally forms at the top (which is now at the bottom of the bottle), so we can still unscrew the top and drink the water.

Freezing bottls upside down may be better than right way up. If upside down, the ice can expand into the cylindrical base of the bottle, rather than be force into the constriction around the cap, thus increasing the possibility of a rupture.

But it looks like you are in much colder weather where the water will definately freeze solid. I've heard of people adding a little sugar and / or salt to the water to create a sort of anti-freeze. I've never tried this so I don't know the recipe or how effective it may be.

I guess you could test some recipes and the effectiveness with a bottle in your freezer ?

Perhaps there are some food engineers online who may have some experiance with food grade anti-freeze ?

Do I need to mention that vehicle anti-freeze is poisonous, so don't even think about using that stuff ?

Not very effective. Sea water is completely undrinkable and will freeze at -1.8 C.

In a vehicle with a working motor I'd just strap it down somewhere in the engine compartment. It shouldn't take too long, I'm guessing maybe 15 minutes? I'd love to test this and come back with some numbers, but I think it's too late in this winter season. But you newer know, we might have more cold spells coming.

Or you may choose to include a stove with your vehicle kit.

You are overthinking this. If you have a running car engine and a frozen bottle of water, put the bottle on the dashboard or near a floor vent and crank up the heat and fan...much easier then strapping the bottle in the engine compartment.