Prepping UK: a calm beginner's guide to getting prepared

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix and the maker of Phoenix Bars. Updated 25 October 2026 and checked against the government's Be Ready advice.

Prepping in the UK means keeping enough food, water and basic supplies to look after your household through a disruption, such as a power cut, flood, storm, heavy snow or a water outage, without needing outside help. It does not mean a bunker. The sensible starting point is the government's Be Ready advice: supplies for 3 days, including 3 litres of drinking water per person per day. Once you have that, you can build to 2 weeks or more if you have the space and budget.

How to start prepping in 5 steps:

• 1. Check the risks where you live, such as flooding, power cuts or snow.
• 2. Store 9 litres of drinking water per person, which covers 3 days.
• 3. Build 3 days of food your household already eats, mostly food that needs no cooking.
• 4. Put together a home emergency kit: torch, radio, power bank, first aid, medication, cash and documents.
• 5. Make a simple household plan, then grow your supplies a little with each shop.

The Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October 2026, asks every household to be ready for 3 days of disruption so emergency services can reach the people who need them most. In other words, the government is now asking everyone to do a little prepping. This guide shows you how to do it calmly, on a budget, and without filling your home with things you will never use.

Why I wrote this guide. Phoenix Bars began as my university project to design a better emergency ration, so I have spent years thinking about the food side of preparedness: what keeps, what packs small, and what people will actually eat when they are cold, tired or stressed. I have kept this guide practical and UK-specific, with links to our detailed guides on each part of a prep.

What is prepping?

Prepping is short for preparing: keeping supplies and plans so that a disruption is an inconvenience rather than a crisis. People who do it are called preppers. In the UK, most preppers are not expecting the end of the world. They are planning for the things that actually happen here: storms that bring down power lines, floods, snow that closes roads, burst mains that cut off the water, and short interruptions to the shops.

There is a spectrum. At one end is the Be Ready household with a box of water, food and a torch. At the other are people who keep months of food, generators and water filters. Most households are best served near the first end, and almost everyone can get there within a month of normal shopping.

Is prepping legal in the UK?

Yes. Keeping food, water, first aid supplies and household kit is completely legal, and the government now actively encourages it. The things to be careful with are the same as for any household: store fuels safely and in small amounts, never use camping stoves, barbecues or generators indoors because of carbon monoxide, and buy gradually. Be Ready is clear that there is no need to panic buy.

The three levels of prepping

Plan food around 2,000 to 2,500 calories per adult per day, from the NHS guide of about 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men, and 3 litres of drinking water per person per day.

Level 1: 3 days, the Be Ready baseline

• Food: about 6,000 to 7,500 calories per adult, mostly no-cook. Our 3-day emergency food supply list does it with 7,178 calories of supermarket food.
• Water: 9 litres of drinking water per person.
• Kit: the essentials on our home emergency kit checklist.
• Who it suits: every household. It covers most UK power cuts, storms and water interruptions.

Level 2: 2 weeks, the common prepper target

• Food: about 28,000 to 35,000 calories per adult. Tins, crackers, nut butters and dense bars, with rice, pasta and oats for days when you can cook.
• Water: 42 litres of drinking water per person, or a smaller store plus a reliable way to treat water.
• Kit: add a safe way to cook outdoors, extra batteries and lighting, and a grab bag by the door in case you need to leave.
• Who it suits: rural homes, people who rely on medication or care, and anyone in an area that floods or gets cut off by snow.

Level 3: a month or more, the rotating pantry

• Food: about 60,000 to 75,000 calories per adult. At this scale, a well-stocked cupboard you eat from and refill works far better than sealed buckets.
• Water: a month of drinking water is unrealistic for most homes, so keep 1 to 2 weeks and plan how you would treat more.
• Who it suits: people with the space, the budget and a reason, such as living somewhere remote.

What to prep for in the UK

Use the government's Be Ready hazards pages and check your long-term flood risk on GOV.UK, then focus on what is most likely where you live:

• Power cuts: torches, batteries, a charged power bank, warm layers and no-cook food. Call 105 to report a power cut in England, Scotland and Wales.
• Storms: enough food, water and light to stay in for a few days.
• Flooding: documents and medication in waterproof bags, and a grab bag ready to go.
• Snow and ice: extra food, drinking water, medication and warm bedding, in case roads close.
• Water supply interruptions: stored drinking water, plus water for washing and flushing.
• Heatwaves: extra drinking water and a cool place for food and medication.
• Disruption to the shops: a cupboard of food you already eat, built gradually.

Prepping food: what UK preppers actually store

The golden rule is to store what you eat and eat what you store. Food your household already likes gets rotated into normal meals before it expires; food nobody likes sits in a cupboard until it is thrown away. Good prepping food needs no fridge, keeps for months or years, and ideally needs no cooking, because the power may be off.

• No-cook tins: fish, corned beef, beans, chickpeas, sweetcorn, fruit in juice and rice pudding, ideally with ring pulls.
• Ready-to-eat carbohydrates: oatcakes, crackers, crispbread, cereal and long-life wraps.
• Calorie-dense foods: peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and dense bars carry several times the calories of tins for their size, which matters in a small home.
• Dry staples for longer preps: rice, pasta, oats and lentils are the cheapest calories once you can cook.
• Long-life specialist food: emergency rations keep for 5 to 20 years, MREs are complete meals with their own heater, and freeze-dried meals keep for up to 25 years but need water and heat.
• Comfort: tea, coffee, biscuits and favourite snacks. Morale is part of coping.

For the full shopping list, see the 50 best foods to stockpile in the UK. For how long each type keeps, see our non-perishable food list, and for long-life options compared, see our guide to survival food in the UK.

Prepping water

Water matters more than food: most people can manage for weeks on little food, but only days without water. Keep at least 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, so 9 litres each for 3 days, plus extra for pets, cooking and washing. Sealed bottled water is the simplest option. Keep it somewhere cool and dark and rotate it by the best-before date. During longer outages, water companies often provide bottled water stations, so follow your supplier's updates. Our guide to emergency water storage covers how much to keep and how to store it.

Prepping supplies UK: the core kit

Beyond food and water, the Be Ready checklist covers a handful of items most homes already half own:

• A torch with spare batteries, and a battery or wind-up FM radio.
• A charged power bank for phones.
• A first aid kit and essential medication, with a written list of medicines and doses.
• Cash, cards and copies of important documents.
• A written list of important phone numbers.
• Hand sanitiser, wet wipes and bathroom products.
• Blankets and warm clothing.
• Anything babies or pets need, including ready-to-feed formula.

Our home emergency kit checklist goes item by item with a four-week build plan, and our emergency grab bag list covers what to pack if you have to leave home quickly.

Prepping on a budget

• Start with what you have. Most homes already own a torch, some first aid supplies and a few days of tins.
• Add one or two items to each shop. This is how Be Ready suggests building supplies, and it spreads the cost over a month.
• Buy own-brand. Supermarket own-brand tins, oats and pasta are as good as branded ones for a prep.
• Buy water in multipacks. Large multipacks of bottled water are the cheapest simple way to store drinking water.
• Leave the gadgets until the basics are done. Water, food and light come first.

Common prepping mistakes

• Forgetting water. It is the most important item and the one most people under-store.
• Only storing food that needs cooking. A cupboard of rice and pasta does not help much in a power cut.
• Buying food nobody likes. A 25-year bucket of meals you have never tasted is a gamble.
• No tin opener. Keep a manual one unless every tin has a ring pull.
• Storing it in the loft, shed or garage. Heat, cold and damp shorten shelf life. A cool, dark cupboard is better.
• Never rotating. Check dates every six months, as Be Ready suggests, and eat the oldest first.
• Cooking indoors on a camping stove or barbecue. Both produce carbon monoxide, so only ever use them outside.
• Keeping it to yourself. Everyone at home should know where the supplies are and what the plan is.

Prepping for families, older relatives and pets

• Children: pack familiar food and treats, plus something to do. Primary-age children need roughly 1,600 to 2,000 calories a day, and teenagers close to adult amounts.
• Older relatives and anyone with a small appetite: choose soft, easy-to-eat food in small portions, such as rice pudding, soup, UHT milk and small calorie-dense foods, keep extra medication if possible, and agree who will check on them.
• Babies: keep ready-to-feed formula, because you may not be able to boil water, plus nappies and wipes.
• Pets: food, water and any medication for 3 days.
• Anyone who relies on medical equipment: keep printed instructions and a charged power bank, and ask your energy supplier and water company about their Priority Services Register.

Make a simple household plan

• Agree where you would meet if you were separated and could not use phones.
• Write down important numbers, including neighbours and anyone who might need checking on.
• Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water.
• Keep a radio for updates and follow your water company and electricity network on social media.
• Check your council's emergency planning pages and your Local Resilience Forum, which publish local risks and advice.

Common questions about prepping in the UK

How do I start prepping in the UK?

Start with the government's Be Ready advice: 3 days of water, food and basic supplies. Store 9 litres of drinking water per person, build 3 days of no-cook food your household eats, and put together a home emergency kit. Then add a little to each shop.

Is the UK government telling people to prepare?

Yes. The Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October 2026, asks every household to keep enough supplies for 3 days, built up gradually rather than through panic buying.

How much food should a prepper store?

3 days is the Be Ready baseline, about 6,000 to 7,500 calories per adult. Many UK preppers aim for 2 weeks, about 28,000 to 35,000 calories per adult. More than a month only makes sense as a rotating pantry you eat from.

What do UK preppers stock up on?

Bottled water, no-cook tins, crackers and oatcakes, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, UHT milk, oats, rice, pasta, dense long-life bars, torches, batteries, a radio, power banks, first aid supplies and medication.

Where do UK preppers buy supplies?

Most prepping food comes from the supermarket. Specialist prepper shops sell emergency rations, freeze-dried meals and water containers, and outdoor shops sell camping stoves, head torches and water filters. Long-life high calorie bars such as Phoenix Bars are available direct from us.

Is prepping worth it?

A basic 3-day prep costs little, uses food you will eat anyway, and makes power cuts, storms and water outages far easier to cope with. Beyond that, it depends on where you live and who relies on you.

What is doomsday prepping?

Doomsday prepping is preparing for a long-term collapse rather than short disruptions. It gets most of the attention on television, but most UK preppers focus on realistic events: power cuts, floods, storms and short supply problems.

Sources: GOV.UK Be Ready, be ready for emergencies; Be Ready checklist; British Red Cross, prepare an emergency kit; NHS, understanding calories; GOV.UK, check your long-term flood risk.