7 Best Rainwater Harvesting Barrels For Homesteaders On a Homestead Budget

You’ve spent weeks amending your garden soil, and now a dry spell hits right as your tomatoes are setting fruit. Lugging buckets from the house spigot gets old fast, and the well pump running constantly is a sound no homesteader wants to hear. This is where rainwater harvesting shifts from a neat idea to an essential part of your homestead’s resilience. Capturing the free water that falls on your roof saves money, conserves your well, and gives your plants the naturally soft, chlorine-free water they love.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

DIY Food-Grade Barrel: The Ultimate Budget Hack

Nothing beats the price of a DIY barrel if you’re willing to put in a little elbow grease. The key is sourcing a used, food-grade 55-gallon plastic drum. Look for local listings from places like bakeries, soda bottlers, or food processing plants that might sell barrels that once held pickles, olives, or syrups.

Making it functional is straightforward. You’ll need to install a spigot near the bottom for a hose connection and an overflow valve or hose near the top to direct excess water away from your foundation. You also need to cut an opening on top for the downspout and cover it with a fine mesh screen. This screen is non-negotiable; it keeps out mosquitoes, leaves, and thirsty critters.

The tradeoff is clear: you’re exchanging your time for a dramatically lower cost. It won’t be as pretty as a store-bought model, but for pure function and utility, a properly converted food-grade barrel is the workhorse of many a successful homestead. Just be absolutely certain you know what was in it before—never use a barrel that held chemicals, oils, or anything non-edible.

RTS Home Accents 50-Gallon Eco-Friendly Barrel

Sometimes, you need a rain barrel that doesn’t look like a big plastic drum, especially if it’s near a front porch or a highly visible part of your property. The RTS Home Accents barrel is designed to look like an authentic oak barrel, blending into your landscape instead of sticking out. Its flat-back design is a surprisingly useful feature, allowing it to sit flush against a wall and save precious space.

Made from recycled plastic, it’s durable and won’t rot or fade like a real wooden barrel. It typically comes with everything you need, including a brass spigot and a screen to keep debris out. Many models even have a top that can be used as a planter, letting you grow flowers or herbs right on the barrel itself.

This is your go-to choice when aesthetics and convenience are high priorities. You’re paying a premium for the design and the pre-installed fittings, but you get a functional tool that also enhances your home’s curb appeal. It’s a perfect fit for the homesteader who values both form and function.

Good Ideas Rain Wizard 50: A Classic Starter

The Rain Wizard is the Toyota Corolla of rain barrels. It’s not flashy, but it’s reliable, affordable, and does its job without any fuss. This is often the first barrel a new homesteader buys, and for good reason. Its simple, sturdy design holds up to the elements season after season.

One of its best features is its linkability. The Rain Wizard is designed to be easily connected to other barrels in a series, allowing you to expand your storage capacity as your needs grow. You can start with one 50-gallon barrel this year and add another next year without having to re-engineer your whole setup.

The spigot placement is high enough to fit a watering can underneath, a small but crucial detail that many DIY setups overlook. If you want a no-nonsense, dependable barrel that provides a solid foundation for a future rainwater collection system, the Rain Wizard is a fantastic starting point.

FCMP Outdoor Tumbling Composter & Rain Barrel

For homesteaders working with a small footprint, every square foot counts. This clever combination unit from FCMP integrates a tumbling composter on top of a rain barrel base. It’s a brilliant solution for a suburban homestead, a small backyard, or any situation where you need to maximize utility in a limited space.

The top half is a dual-chamber tumbling composter, allowing you to have one side "cooking" while you add fresh scraps to the other. The bottom half functions as a standard rain barrel, collecting runoff to water the very garden that will benefit from your finished compost. It’s a closed-loop system in a single product.

The obvious tradeoff is capacity. You’re getting a smaller composter and a smaller rain barrel than if you bought them separately. But if your choice is between a combo unit or nothing at all due to space constraints, this is an incredibly efficient way to tackle two essential homestead tasks at once.

VINGLI 100-Gallon Collapsible Rain Collector

Hard-sided barrels aren’t always the right fit. A collapsible collector, like this 100-gallon model from VINGLI, offers incredible flexibility. Made from a heavy-duty PVC tarpaulin, it can be set up in minutes and taken down just as quickly for winter storage, which is a huge advantage in climates with hard freezes.

This is the perfect solution for renters who can’t make permanent installations or for anyone needing a temporary, high-capacity water source in a remote part of their property. You could set one up near a chicken coop or a distant garden bed for the growing season, then pack it away when it’s no longer needed.

While it’s surprisingly durable, it’s not as tough as a rigid polyethylene barrel. You need to place it on a level, puncture-free surface. But for its low cost per gallon and unmatched portability, a collapsible barrel provides a massive amount of storage without the long-term commitment.

Upcycle an IBC Tote for High-Capacity Storage

When 55 gallons just isn’t enough, it’s time to look at Intermediate Bulk Containers, or IBC totes. These 275-gallon (or larger) containers are the next logical step for serious water storage on a budget. They are often used to transport food-grade liquids like syrups and oils, and you can frequently find them for sale locally at a fraction of the cost of a commercial cistern.

Like with smaller barrels, it is absolutely critical to get a tote that previously held food-grade materials. The plastic is porous, and you’ll never truly get rid of chemical residues. Once you have a safe tote, the conversion is similar to a DIY barrel: add a spigot and an overflow. The cage provides structure, and the built-in valve at the bottom can often be adapted with simple plumbing fittings.

The one major downside is algae. The translucent plastic lets in sunlight, creating a perfect environment for algae to grow. You must cover the tote with a dark, UV-resistant tarp or paint it with opaque paint designed for plastics. It’s an extra step, but for nearly 300 gallons of storage, it’s a small price to pay.

Oatey Mystic Rainwater Collection System

This isn’t a barrel, but it’s one of the most important parts of a reliable system. The Oatey Mystic is a downspout diverter that channels water into your barrel until it’s full, then automatically sends the excess water back down the original downspout. This simple device solves two of the biggest problems with basic rain barrel setups.

First, it prevents overflow. A 55-gallon barrel can fill surprisingly fast in a heavy downpour. Without a diverter, that excess water will spill out right next to your foundation, which can lead to serious and expensive water damage over time.

Second, it acts as a primary filter. The diverter helps keep larger debris like leaves and twigs out of your barrel, which means cleaner water and less chance of your spigot getting clogged. You can use this with any barrel on this list—from a DIY drum to an IBC tote—to create a safer, more efficient, and lower-maintenance system.

Linking Barrels with a Fiskars DiverterPro Kit

Your water needs will grow. The garden expands, you add more chickens, or you simply want a larger buffer for dry spells. Instead of buying one massive, expensive tank, the most budget-friendly approach is to link multiple smaller barrels together. A kit like the Fiskars DiverterPro makes this process nearly foolproof.

These kits come with the diverter, a connecting hose, and all the fittings you need to daisy-chain your barrels. You connect the overflow of the first barrel to the input of the second, and so on. When the first barrel fills, the water automatically flows to the next one in the line, maximizing your storage capacity without any manual intervention.

This modular approach is the essence of homesteading: start small, learn the system, and expand as your resources and needs allow. You can build a high-capacity system over time, adding one barrel at a time. It’s a far more manageable investment than a single large cistern and gives you flexibility in where you place your storage.

The best rain barrel isn’t the most expensive one; it’s the one that’s full when you need it. Whether you start with a simple DIY barrel or link three together with a diverter kit, the goal is the same: building a more resilient and self-sufficient homestead. Start with what your budget and space allow, and you’ll be amazed at how much a little captured rain can change your entire watering strategy.