When you cycle your water storage, what do you do with the "old" water?

I have about 6L of filtered tap water in bottles in the fridge. I cycle through those constantly through drinking and refilling.

I also have a 6G plastic "jerry can" in the closet. I'm looking for suggestions for the old water when I cycle that container. I'd rather not just pour it down the drain.

The only thing I've come up with is pour it on the landscaping outside.

You could use it for flushing the toilet.

You could use it to:

Cook with

Wash the pet if you have one

Wash the dishes

pre-load the laundry washer

water plants

pet drinking water

top off the pool if you have one

Freeze it if you have the freezer space and use it the next time you need ice for the cooler.

What is "wrong" with the old water? I would just bring it to a rolling boil and make a nice cup of tea. Then if the Bad Things in the water kill me, I will die satisfied with that final cup of oolong.

I'll confess: I mostly dump it out in the backyard. I store water mostly in 15 and 30 gallon barrels, and when it comes time to rotate out water, I empty the old, clean with a bit of bleach, rinse, then refill, mark it for another 12-18 months, and go on with my day. My conscience is mostly clean - we are locally blessed with mostly an abundance of clean drinking water in the Pacific Northwest.

We cycle through our water storage. We have about 5-10 gallons in reserve, and use a 5 gallon container for assorted things. Mostly for coffee/tea/cooking/drinking water over a week or two. The water in this area is hard and leaves a lot of scale, so filtered water in the coffee maker keeps it clean and tastes better. I drink the tap water but everyone else in my family hates the taste of it. When we empty out a 5gal, we start on the next and refill the empty, with another in reserve. The reserves may have to wait for a month to be used.

So for you:
Sell to the DS/conscience/wallet that you need another Jerrycan.
Use current jerrycan to fill liters.
Refill empty.
Now you have 12 gal storage, that you can work through your normal consumption without having at least 6 gal on hand.

Or,

Water your/friends/neighbors landscape.

Actually, as cheap as it was, a second 6G "can" is on my list already. That is a great suggestion.

And lots of good suggestions for how to use it without wasting it.

Thank you! Between you all, you gave me a solution.

I water the plants and yard.