Don't use plastic water bottles, for all the obvious reasons - they are polluting and unhealthy, not to mention wasteful.
The stainless steel bottles you see below are a great option. If you are in Chennai, Santosh in Anna Nagar carries them, and I assume so will any well-stocked steel utensil store like Rathna. They cost roughly between Rs. 150-200 depending upon the size, and will last for years.
The bottles come in sizes from 300 ml to a liter. Keep them at home, keep one in the car and drop a smaller one in your office bag, so you don't have to buy packaged water. Irrespective of the size, the heads are all the same, which means you can mix caps. And by the way, they come with a variety of caps - flat lids, looped ones like you see here, and even sippers which make them nice for kids (or cyclists). I use the really small one (300 ML) to carry breakfast porridge to work, if I am going early. Oh by the way, the caps are made of plastic yes, but my water sits well below the neck, and since they make the bottle completely leakproof, I'll make my peace with them.
These bottles aren't insulated though, so if you leave your bottle in the sun, the contents will get warm. But the water will still smell and taste fine, unlike the plasticky smelling water from a regular bottles that've been left in the sun. Eek. (Packaged water sits in those plastic bottles for god knows how long before you get to drink it.)
Among reusable bottles, there are also Sigg bottles and their clones, and here is my gripe with them: while they look snazzier, they are much more expensive, are made of aluminum, and to keep the aluminum from getting into your water, the inside is coated with "food-grade enamel"(which their CEO claims is safe). In any case, it all seems unnecessarily complicated, and why bother when there is simpler solution?
I remember using steel bottles for a while when I was a kid - the steel was of very thin gauge and used to get badly dented, and also, the bottles used to have a lot of ridges just like a Bisleri bottle, which was idiotic because the ridges were impossible to scrub clean on the inside. That way, I love the smooth curves of my current set of bottles, with no place for dirt to hide. I wash them with salt water, baking soda and a bottle brush.
Safe, reusable, and economical in the long run.
The stainless steel bottles you see below are a great option. If you are in Chennai, Santosh in Anna Nagar carries them, and I assume so will any well-stocked steel utensil store like Rathna. They cost roughly between Rs. 150-200 depending upon the size, and will last for years.
The bottles come in sizes from 300 ml to a liter. Keep them at home, keep one in the car and drop a smaller one in your office bag, so you don't have to buy packaged water. Irrespective of the size, the heads are all the same, which means you can mix caps. And by the way, they come with a variety of caps - flat lids, looped ones like you see here, and even sippers which make them nice for kids (or cyclists). I use the really small one (300 ML) to carry breakfast porridge to work, if I am going early. Oh by the way, the caps are made of plastic yes, but my water sits well below the neck, and since they make the bottle completely leakproof, I'll make my peace with them.
These bottles aren't insulated though, so if you leave your bottle in the sun, the contents will get warm. But the water will still smell and taste fine, unlike the plasticky smelling water from a regular bottles that've been left in the sun. Eek. (Packaged water sits in those plastic bottles for god knows how long before you get to drink it.)
Among reusable bottles, there are also Sigg bottles and their clones, and here is my gripe with them: while they look snazzier, they are much more expensive, are made of aluminum, and to keep the aluminum from getting into your water, the inside is coated with "food-grade enamel"(which their CEO claims is safe). In any case, it all seems unnecessarily complicated, and why bother when there is simpler solution?
I remember using steel bottles for a while when I was a kid - the steel was of very thin gauge and used to get badly dented, and also, the bottles used to have a lot of ridges just like a Bisleri bottle, which was idiotic because the ridges were impossible to scrub clean on the inside. That way, I love the smooth curves of my current set of bottles, with no place for dirt to hide. I wash them with salt water, baking soda and a bottle brush.
Safe, reusable, and economical in the long run.
You might consider adding a pinch of baking soda to a litre of water when you are travelling. It gives water that "fresh" taste typical to branded bottled water.
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