A 72-hour kit.
Built around your home.
A useful kit is a collection of supplies you can find, use and maintain. It does not have to arrive in a single expensive box.
Official Be Ready guidance and checklist checked 27 October 2026. Our planning framework is independent; follow live official instructions during an incident.
Start with the essentials you already own
Walk through your cupboards with your household in mind. Record suitable water and food, test your torch and locate your first aid kit. Check that other people at home know where things are kept.
- Water: record drinking water separately from cooking and hygiene needs. Our water calculator explains the official drinking-water baseline.
- Food: estimate days of food that suits your household and can be prepared under the conditions you are planning for. Include a manual opener if your tins need one.
- Light and communication: test torches, match batteries, check power banks and cables, and consider a battery or wind-up radio.
- Care and comfort: review first aid, hygiene supplies, warm layers, paper contacts, documents and a suitable small cash reserve.
What changes from household to household?
A three-day plan for one person differs from a family plan. Count each adult, child and infant once for the calculator’s baseline. Then consider food preferences, feeding arrangements, pets and accessibility. Clinical and infant feeding needs require tailored advice; a generic quantity cannot assess them.
For example, the current Be Ready drinking-water formula gives four people a baseline of 36 litres over three days. This is not a complete household water allowance. The standalone calculator shows every step and leaves additional needs as prompts rather than inventing precise estimates.
Buy the gap, rather than the whole kit
After checking quantities and condition, separate missing essentials from optional upgrades. An additional lantern may be convenient; it should not lower your completion score if you choose not to include it. Our household calculator produces a list from your answers. The interactive checklist shows missing items and optional, disclosed shopping guidance; purchases are never required.
Make the plan usable without a connection
Print or download your plan. Keep it somewhere accessible and tell household members where to find it. The website is not a guaranteed offline service. Review supplies periodically and after using them, moving home or changing household needs.
What does “72 hours” mean here?
Three days is the default planning window for this tool. It does not predict disruption duration or guarantee preparedness. Use current instructions from official services for a real incident. The completion percentage describes checklist coverage only.
Sources and editorial limits
Check official UK preparedness guidance and GOV.UK preparing for emergencies. Read our editorial policy and review status. ReadyEssentials is independent and is not government endorsed.
Next: Essential supplies and buying guidance · UK government advice explained · Food planning checklist
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For specific scenarios, explore our power-cut guide, water-supply guide and general checklist.