The short answer
Be Ready asks every UK household to be able to manage at home for 3 days: 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, food that needs no fridge or cooking, a torch, a battery or wind-up FM radio, a charged power bank, cash, a first-aid kit and your medicines, copies of documents, and warm bedding. It's a sensible floor, not a ceiling. It says little about toilets, safe cooking or a cold house, and Sweden and Norway ask for a week, Germany for 10 days.
Why 3 days?
GOV.UK's Be Ready campaign says emergencies, "from severe weather to cyber attacks", can cut the services you rely on. Being able to manage at home for 3 days means you can cope while help reaches the people who need it most. It doesn't say an emergency is coming. It's the same thinking as a smoke alarm: cheap, quiet, and there when you need it.
What Be Ready asks for, item by item
This is the official list from the Be Ready checklist page, in plain words.
| Area | What Be Ready asks for |
|---|---|
| Water | Bottled water for 3 days: 3 litres per person per day for drinking. More for cooking and washing |
| Food | Food for 3 days that keeps a long time and needs no fridge or cooking. Buy food you'd normally eat |
| Hygiene | Hand sanitiser, wet wipes, bathroom products |
| Light | A torch and spare batteries. Torches are safer than candles. Don't use your phone as a torch: it drains the battery |
| Warmth | Blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothes |
| News | A battery or wind-up FM radio, with the frequencies of the stations you use written down |
| Power | A charged power bank for phones (or medical devices that can use one) |
| Money | Cash in coins and notes, plus cards. No amount is set |
| Papers | Printed copies of ID and documents, a written list of phone numbers and everyone's medicines and doses |
| Health | A first-aid kit and essential medicines. Order repeat prescriptions in good time |
| Babies | Ready-to-feed formula (safer than powder, as you may not be able to boil water), nappies and wipes |
| Pets | Pet food and bottled water |
Be Ready also says to set a reminder every six months to check dates and swap things out, and to update the kit when your household changes.
How much is that for your household?
Our calculation, at Be Ready's 3 litres per person per day:
| People | Water for 3 days | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 litres | about 9 kg |
| 2 | 18 litres | about 18 kg |
| 4 | 36 litres | about 36 kg |
That's drinking water only. A 6-pack of 2-litre bottles is 12 litres, so a family of four needs three of them.
The gaps: what the list doesn't cover
Be Ready's list is a good start. These are the things UK forums ask about most that it doesn't spell out:
- Toilets. If the water stops, toilets stop flushing. A bucket, strong bin bags and something absorbent (cat litter works) is a cheap fix. This is general practice: Be Ready's checklist doesn't cover it.
- Hot food and drinks. The list asks for food that needs no cooking, which is right. If you want to heat things, the Food Standards Agency says most camping stoves and barbecues are made for outdoor use only. Never use them indoors: see cooking without electricity.
- A cold house. Be Ready's power-cut page says gas boilers and heat pumps won't work without power. Plan one warm room: see keeping warm without power.
- Help for people who need it. Ofgem's Priority Services Register is free extra support from your energy company, for example if someone is over state pension age, has young children, a disability or medical equipment that needs power. Water companies have one too.
- Longer than 3 days. See the next section.
How other countries go further
| Country | How long to manage | Water |
|---|---|---|
| UK (Be Ready) | 3 days | 3 L per person per day |
| Sweden (MCF) | At least a week | Plan for drinking, cooking and hygiene |
| Norway (DSB) | A week | 20 L per person in total |
| Germany (BBK) | 10 days | About 14 L of drinks per person per week |
Sweden also suggests a month of any regular prescribed medicines. Norway names a battery, crank or solar DAB radio and its national emergency channel. None of this means the UK is wrong: 3 days covers most real UK outages. It does mean a week is a reasonable next step once you have the basics.
A simple order to build it
- Free first: write down numbers (105 for power cuts, 03457 643 643 in Northern Ireland), check the Priority Services Register, find your stopcock.
- Light and news: a torch or head torch each, and an FM radio.
- Water: 3 litres per person per day for 3 days, in sealed bottles.
- Food: tins and packets you already eat, plus a manual tin opener.
- Power and money: a charged power bank, some cash.
- Then a week: more water and food, a toilet kit, warm bedding.
Spread it over several shops. You don't need to do it all at once.
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What to buy
About these links: plain links to ordinary retailer pages. We may earn from some links in future; we don't now. We haven’t tested these and we don’t rank them: they are examples that were in stock when we checked. Prices change. Check what you already own first. Full kit list
Torch or head torch, plus spare batteries
Look for: Runs on the same AA or AAA batteries as your other kit, so one spare pack covers everything. A head torch leaves both hands free.
- Alpkit Ionic 350 Lumen Head Torch · Alpkit · £15.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Lifesystems Intensity 155 LED Head Torch · Lifesystems (UK brand store) · £19.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Alpkit Kula 550 Lumen Head Torch · Alpkit · £19.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Lifesystems Intensity 480 LED Hand Torch · Lifesystems (UK brand store) · £29.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Dynamo Powered Wind-Up Pocket LED Torch · EVAQ8 · £3.60 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
Battery or wind-up FM radio
Look for: FM (Be Ready asks for FM; DAB as well is fine). Both a crank and ordinary batteries, so you have two ways to power it.
Power bank
Look for: From a seller you know. Check the capacity (mAh) against your phone, and that you have the right cable for each phone. Keep it charged.
- Anker Zolo Power Bank 20000mAh 30W Built-in USB-C · Anker UK (brand store) · £34.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Anker Zolo Power Bank 20000mAh 30W Built-in USB-C · Amazon UK · £28.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Anker Power Bank 20K 87W Built-In USB-C Cable · Anker UK (brand store) · £49.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
Bottled water
Look for: 3 litres per person per day for 3 days, for drinking. More for babies, pets and medical devices.
- Seven Oceans Emergency Drinking Water 0.5l (5-year shelf life) · EVAQ8 · £3.94 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
Manual tin opener
Look for: Works without power. Keep it with the tins.
First aid kit
Look for: Waterproof plasters, bandages, a thermometer, antiseptic, eyewash, sterile dressings, gloves, medical tape and tweezers.
- St John Ambulance Home First Aid Kit · Amazon UK · £14.49 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Lifesystems Adventurer First Aid Kit · Lifesystems (UK brand store) · £26.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
- Lifesystems Mountain First Aid Kit · Lifesystems (UK brand store) · £42.99 (price on 1 November 2026) Shop
Frequently asked questions
What does the 3-day government advice actually mean?
GOV.UK's Be Ready campaign asks households to keep enough at home to manage for 3 days if services such as power, water or phones are cut: bottled water (3 litres per person per day), food that keeps without a fridge and needs no cooking, a torch, a battery or wind-up FM radio, a power bank, cash, medicines, a first-aid kit, documents and warm bedding. The idea is that you can cope while help goes first to the people who need it most.
Is 3 days enough?
For most UK power cuts and water outages, yes. It's the official minimum, not a target. Sweden's civil defence agency asks households to manage for at least a week, Norway asks for a week, and Germany for 10 days. A sensible order is 3 days first, then a week, built up over time.
How much water is that for my family?
Be Ready says 3 litres per person per day for drinking. For 3 days that's 9 litres each: 36 litres for a family of four. It says you'll need more for cooking and washing, and extra for babies, pets and medical devices.
Do I need to buy it all at once?
No. Check what you already have, then add a few items to your normal shopping. Be Ready says to set a reminder every six months to check dates and swap out anything that needs replacing.
What does the Be Ready list leave out?
Mainly a plan for toilets if the water stops, a safe way to heat food (outdoors only), a battery carbon monoxide alarm if you'll use any fuel-burning heater, and how to keep one room warm in winter. We cover each of these in our other posts.
Sources
We opened each page on the date shown. Official advice changes: if a source says something different now, follow the source.
- GOV.UK Be Ready: be ready for emergencies (checklist) (read 1 November 2026)
- GOV.UK Be Ready: home page (read 1 November 2026)
- GOV.UK Be Ready: power cuts (read 1 November 2026)
- GOV.UK Be Ready: water supply interruptions or outages (read 1 November 2026)
- Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency (MCF): Home preparedness, prepping for at least a week (read 1 November 2026)
- DSB (Norway): Frequently asked questions about self-preparedness (read 1 November 2026)
- BBK (Germany): Stockpiling (read 1 November 2026)
- Ofgem: Join your supplier's Priority Services Register (read 1 November 2026)
- Food Standards Agency (GOV.UK): Food safety in a power cut (read 1 November 2026)
Related guides
- The Be Ready checklist, explained for your home
- UK emergency kit checklist (printable)
- The 72-hour emergency kit for UK households
- Europe's 72-hour preparedness advice, country by country
- Two weeks of emergency supplies: a sensible extended plan
Free tools
- Be Ready kit: every item on the official list as a tick list
- Emergency supplies calculator (water and food for your household)
- How ready is your home? A 2-minute quiz
We're an independent UK site, not the government. We check guides against official sources and link to them. In an emergency call 999.
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