Fourteen times last summer and fall, I and nine other Consumer Reports staffers took a mile walk down and back past the cemetery near our headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y. Each time, we wore two pedometers, devices used to count steps and, in some cases, compute distance traveled. Our walks were postponed at times—by freak tropical storms, record floods, and, in my case, an injured knee. But by the end we had logged a total of 140 miles and gathered enough data to come up with Ratings of 13 pedometers, including 10 standard ones and three cell-phone apps.

If you’re one of the millions feeling the after effects of Hurricane Irene in the form of power outages, flooding, and other damages, food and water safety is a paramount concern. To avoid illness from contaminated drinking water and food, the Food and Drug Administration is urging people to take the following precautions: