Food for 3 days without cooking

Published 23 October 2026

Be Ready asks for 3 days of food that needs no cooking or fridge, ideally food you’d usually eat. Tins, crackers, nut butter, UHT milk and a tin opener cover it.

The list, for one adult for 3 days

3 tins Tinned fish or meat (mackerel, sardines, salmon, tuna, chicken)Protein, and oily fish gives omega-3. In olive oil or water, with ring-pull lids. Swap: extra beans or chickpeas.
2 tins Ready-to-eat beans, chickpeas or baked beansProtein and fibre, fine cold. No added salt where you can.
3 tins Tinned veg (sweetcorn, peas, carrots, beetroot)Vitamins and fibre straight from the tin.
2 tins Tinned fruit in juiceIn juice, not syrup.
1 bag Dried fruit (apricots, raisins, prunes)
1 pack Oatcakes or wholegrain crackersLasts months longer than bread.
1 jar Peanut or other nut butterSwap: seed butter for nut allergies.
1 bag Unsalted nuts or seedsSwap: seeds, or more oatcakes, for nut allergies.
1 litre UHT milkSwap: long-life plant milk.
1 box Cereal or instant oats (soak oats in cold milk)
3 bars Cereal bars
1 bar ChocolateMorale counts. Sweden's list has it too.

The amounts are our suggestion. The calculator scales them for your household. In the government’s 2026 survey, 60% of adults said they had 3 days of food that needs no cooking.

How we chose it

Nothing needs cooking or a fridge.
Ring-pull tins where you can, in case the tin opener goes missing.
Food you already eat, so none of it is wasted.
Some protein, fibre and fat every day, from fish or beans, veg and fruit, and nuts and oatcakes.
Something nice, which is what the chocolate is for.

“It’ll only go out of date”

25% of adults said not wanting things to go out of date stopped them getting ready. The answer is to rotate it. Keep the box at the back of the cupboard, eat the oldest things in a normal week, and replace them on your next shop.

The Food Standards Agency explains the two dates. A best before date is about quality: food is safe to eat after it, but it may not be at its best. A use by date is about safety: don’t eat food after it. Tins, dried food and UHT milk carry best before dates.

Allergies, babies and special diets

If anyone has an allergy or a special diet, build the box around what they already eat safely.

For babies, Be Ready lists ready-to-feed formula, because you may not be able to boil water to make up powder. We don’t give quantities: keep 3 days of what your baby usually has. The babies and pets kit page has the rest, and your health visitor or pharmacist can help with anything else.

Where to keep it

In one box, somewhere cool and dry. Our budget pick is the STASH’D 50-litre clear storage box (Ad).

Two things people forget

A tin opener, for anything without a ring-pull. Ours is the OXO Good Grips (Ad).
Water. Here’s how much water you need.