Prepping for beginners in the UK: start with your household

Prepping in the UK can be as ordinary as keeping drinking water, food you already eat, a working torch and a written contact plan. Start with the disruptions your household would struggle with: a power cut, interrupted water supply, severe weather or having to leave home. The Government’s Be Ready guidance recommends preparing for three days and building up gradually, not buying everything at once.

Decide what matters for your household

Walk through an ordinary day and ask what stops working without electricity, water, transport or a phone signal. Include everyone who regularly stays with you, children, people you support and pets. A lift, powered medical equipment, electric cooking or a digital landline can matter more than an impressive equipment collection.

1. Health and essential support: write down medicines, equipment and care contacts. Discuss interruptions with your care team, pharmacist or equipment provider; do not change treatment or build an improvised medicine stockpile.
2. Water and food: check cupboards before shopping. Be Ready’s drinking-water planning amount is 3 litres per person per day for three days, with more for cooking and washing. Use the water storage guide to plan space and quantities.
3. Light and warmth: find your torch, batteries, warm clothes and bedding. A torch is safer than candles. Do not bring outdoor cooking or heating equipment indoors.
4. Information and contact: charge your phone and compatible power bank, write down numbers and learn to tune an FM receiver before you need it.
5. Leaving home: agree where to go and what to take. A portable evacuation bag has a different job from supplies kept at home.

Ask your utility providers about extra-support services if someone has additional needs. Be Ready points to Priority Services Registers in England, Scotland and Wales and Customer Care Registers in Northern Ireland. Registration is useful, but it is not a substitute for a personal plan for essential powered equipment.

Check what you own before setting a budget

Make three short lists: available and working; needs replacing or charging; missing. Try the tin opener and torch, find the phone’s actual charging cable, and count meals rather than random tins. Keep ordinary food in rotation so emergency supplies do not become a forgotten second supermarket.

Choose a spending limit that leaves money for normal essentials. Start with free actions: contact details, a meeting place, finding isolation controls and sharing a plan with a neighbour. At each normal shop, add a useful missing item if affordable. Specialist survival food, tactical bags and large batteries are not entry requirements. If you cannot store or afford the full suggested supply, record the gap and discuss support with people you trust rather than treating preparation as an all-or-nothing test.

Preparedness in a flat, rented room or small home

Use existing space without creating a hazard

Use a labelled cupboard shelf or shallow under-bed box for suitable supplies, and keep a short list of where everything lives. The whole home kit need not fit in one container. Keep drinking water in manageable containers on a sound, low shelf or floor-level storage area, protected from heat and contamination; follow the container’s storage instructions. Do not overload furniture. Keep heavy supplies within reach of the person who will use them, not above shoulder height.

Leave hallways, communal landings, fire doors and exits clear. Do not store your kit in a communal escape route or rely on a locked basement store you cannot reach during flooding. A balcony is not a dependable all-weather store. Keep batteries and food within their manufacturers’ storage conditions. Store cleaning products separately from food and water, and keep medicines and hazardous items away from children.

Make the plan fit the building

Ask the landlord or managing agent for the building’s fire instructions, emergency contact and arrangements for loss of lifts, access controls or shared services. Follow the building-specific fire plan and emergency-service instructions; a storm sheltering plan is not a fire evacuation instruction. If stairs are difficult, agree an evacuation/support arrangement in advance rather than assuming somebody can carry you. Do not assume a lift will be available.

Locate your own water stop tap and relevant utility controls with the landlord’s help, without tampering with shared supplies. Report unsafe access or unresolved repairs. Obtain permission and suitable professional advice for structural flood measures or electrical alterations. Tenants should check their own contents cover rather than assuming the landlord’s insurance covers possessions.

Share fairly and protect privacy

In a shared home, label which supplies are communal and agree who replaces used items. Keep dietary, medical and personal-care essentials separately if needed. A neighbour may be able to help with information or checking in, but do not make their unconfirmed supplies your only fallback. Store printed medical information and identity copies securely while ensuring the right person knows how to find them.

A manageable seven-day starting plan

This is a suggested sequence, not a requirement to finish or spend money within a week.

1. Day one — understand the risks: check flood risk, building instructions and who needs additional help.
2. Day two — take stock: find food, water, lighting, warm clothing, batteries and first-aid supplies. List actual gaps.
3. Day three — write contacts: complete the household emergency plan, agree meeting places and check-in arrangements.
4. Day four — organise food and water: plan ordinary no-cook meals and suitable storage; add missing supplies as your budget allows.
5. Day five — try light and communications: test the torch, tune the radio, charge the phone and identify compatible backup power.
6. Day six — prepare to leave: gather documents and a light, usable grab bag. Write a last-minute list for daily essentials.
7. Day seven — rehearse: ask everyone to locate the plan and torch, explain the meeting arrangement and identify anything that would fail. Do not disconnect essential medical equipment as a test.

Be Ready recommends reviewing supplies every six months. Also review after using supplies, moving home or a change in care needs.

Choose your next section

• Start Here: return to this sequence when you need a manageable starting point.
• Emergency Kits: build home supplies, a portable bag and a household plan.
• Food & Water: plan everyday meals and drinking-water storage.
• Power & Communications: choose lighting, backup power and ways to receive information or keep in touch.
• News Explained: understand official announcements without treating every headline as an emergency forecast.

These are UK household guides. CumbriaCQ’s local radio information is separate: no community radio network is a guaranteed route to emergency services. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 and follow official instructions.