A sensible prepping list for UK homes

Published 25 October 2026

Prepping in the UK doesn’t need a bunker. The government’s Be Ready campaign asks for 3 days at home: do the free things first, add water and food on your next shop, then put a few things in one box.

Free, today

• Check if you can join the Priority Services Register
• Write down important numbers on paper
• Write down everyone's regular medicines and doses
• Add emergency contacts or Medical ID to your phone
• Print copies of key documents
• Check your flood risk
• Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water
• Agree a meeting point with your household
• Swap numbers with a neighbour
• Write down the FM frequency of your local BBC radio station
• Test your smoke alarm

On your next shop

• Water: 3 litres per person per day. Here’s how much that is for 3 days.
• Food: tins and snacks that don’t need cooking. Here’s the no-cook food list.
• Batteries: spares for the torch and the radio.
• Cash: coins and small notes. Our suggestion is £20 a person.

One box of kit

A torch, an FM radio, a power bank, a first aid kit, blankets, a wallet for your documents, and a box to keep it all in. For 2 adults for 3 days, the food comes to about £35 at a supermarket. If you're starting from nothing, the kit is roughly £95 to £185.

Our picks. Links go to Amazon, and we earn a small share if you buy.

If you’re buying, our picks are the Energizer Vision HD+ head torch on Amazon, the SOLARBABY A1 wind-up radio on Amazon and the Anker Zolo 20,000 mAh on Amazon. Everything else is on the kit page.

Optional, last

If you want to go further, we suggest a few things at the end of the kit pages, all optional.

What we’d skip

Generators, freeze-dried “25-year” food and ready-made grab bags. You don’t need them for 3 days at home.

The checklist has the whole list on one page, and the calculator works out the amounts for your household.

Everything we recommend is on one page: the kit.