UK Emergency Kit 2026: What Households Actually Need
A useful UK emergency kit is much simpler: it should help your household keep functioning if normal services are disrupted for a few days.
Recent government messaging has encouraged households to think about how they would cope with disruption such as a power cut, water outage, severe weather or communications failure.
But that doesn’t mean turning your spare room into a stockpile.
The UK Government’s Prepare guidance focuses on relatively simple steps that can make a household more resilient if normal services are disrupted for a few days — and many of them cost little or nothing.
And there is plenty of room for improvement.
The Government’s 2026 preparedness survey found that only 13% of UK adults felt their household was largely or totally prepared for an emergency, while 50% felt slightly or not at all prepared. Only 19% reported having a grab bag, while 29% had important numbers or information written down on paper.
So what should an ordinary household actually do?
1. Start with what you already have
Before buying anything, look around your home.
You may already have much of an emergency kit: a torch, batteries, first-aid supplies, tinned food, a phone power bank and essential medication.
The aim isn’t to buy the biggest emergency kit you can find. It’s to identify the things your household would genuinely miss if electricity, water, internet access or shops suddenly became unavailable.
The first question should therefore be: where are our gaps?
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2. Have a way to light your home
The Government recommends keeping a battery-powered or wind-up torch, noting that torches are safer than candles.
Keep spare batteries too.
More importantly, put the equipment somewhere you can actually find it in the dark.
3. Keep your phone working
A charged phone can provide communication, information, maps, banking and access to emergency services.
A portable power bank is therefore one of the simplest useful pieces of household backup equipment.
Charge it periodically rather than leaving it forgotten in a drawer.
During a power cut, broadband and even mobile connectivity can also be affected, so your phone shouldn’t be your household’s only plan. Government power-cut guidance recommends considering a battery or wind-up radio as another way of receiving information.
4. Think about drinking water
Water is one of the most important areas — and also one of the easiest to misunderstand.
There isn’t a single official UK rule saying every household must store a particular number of days’ water.
Current Government guidance cites a minimum of 2.5–3 litres of drinking water per person per day, while around 10 litres per person per day provides more capacity for basic cooking and hygiene.
Your household may need additional water for babies, pets or particular medical requirements.
You don’t necessarily need to buy it all at once. The Government specifically suggests gradually adding emergency supplies when you are able.
5. Keep some food that doesn’t require cooking
Consider what would happen if your hob, oven and microwave couldn’t be used.
Government guidance recommends some non-perishable food that doesn’t require cooking, including ready-to-eat tinned foods, along with a manual tin opener where needed.
Remember household-specific requirements too: children, dietary needs and pets can all change what makes sense to keep.
This isn’t about hoarding food. A sensible emergency supply can simply form part of your normal cupboard rotation.
6. Don’t forget medication and first aid
Keep basic first-aid supplies accessible.
If someone in the household relies on regular medication, think about how they would manage during disruption. Government guidance recommends having enough essential medication to keep you going for several days and keeping instructions for essential medical equipment available on paper where appropriate.
7. Put important information on paper
This is one of the easiest preparedness measures — and one people frequently overlook.
If your phone dies, can you remember the numbers you would need?
The Government recommends writing down important contacts, medication information, insurance details and relevant emergency numbers.
For power cuts, 105 is the number to report or obtain information about a power cut in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland uses a different service.
Keep the information somewhere the household knows about.
8. Make a simple household plan
Think through a few questions before you need the answers.
Where would you meet if you couldn’t return home? Who would collect the children?
Who might need extra help? Where are important documents? What would you take if authorities advised you to evacuate?
The Government recommends agreeing a meeting point and keeping essential household information together.
A plan doesn’t need to be complicated.
It just needs to exist.
9. Know the risks relevant to your home
Preparedness shouldn’t be identical for every household.
A property with significant flood risk has different priorities from a flat in a city centre. Someone dependent on electrically powered medical equipment has different needs from someone who isn’t.
Current UK guidance recommends checking relevant local risks, signing up for appropriate alerts and considering whether anyone in the household is eligible for a utility Priority Services Register.
So, do you need an emergency kit?
Probably not in the dramatic sense people sometimes imagine.
What you need is the ability to keep your household functioning through a realistic period of disruption.
That means thinking about five things:
Prepare. Power. Water. Connect. Protect.
You may discover you’re already well prepared in several of them.
The useful part is finding the gaps you haven’t thought about.
How prepared is your home?
HomeStrength’s free Home Check looks across your household and gives you practical next steps based on your answers.
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It includes emergency contacts, food and water planning, power-cut preparation, a family grab-bag checklist, household emergency planning and a seven-day action plan.
£9.99 · One-off purchase · Instant digital download
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