Emergency supplies on a budget: what I'm putting aside for our family
Written by Al Baker | Founder & Editor, The Penny Pincher - Last updated: the 5th of November 2026
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What would you do if there was a national emergency?
If the power went off tonight and stayed off tomorrow, what would you actually eat? It's a question I've been asking myself recently, and as a result, I've been adding a few extra tins of food and stocking up on bottles of water when doing our food shop, because it's better to be safe than sorry!
I'm not expecting a zombie invasion, and I very much hope we never face anything approaching a major national crisis. Still, I've watched enough disaster movies in my time to know that I do need to have a plan to be able to feed the family and manage for a few days if there's a power cut, a water-supply problem or weather that makes getting to the shops difficult.
The government actively giving out emergency advice to prepare for three days of disruption has prompted me to move from, I'm sure it'll never happen to me; this is just what you see in a Hollywood movie, to me actually going beyond just thinking about it and moving on to actually doing something about it.
I don't remember taking much notice of this sort of advice before. If I'm honest, I can't actually recall having seen this sort of information being given out in the UK, and I'll admit that seeing it discussed does make me a bit concerned. That doesn't mean something terrible is about to happen, but I'd rather have a modest plan than find myself wondering what we're going to eat when the lights have already gone out. I've spent roughly £50 so far, mainly on extra food and water for the four of us. That's £50 I'd rather have available for something else, quite frankly, because our food budget doesn't have a generous allowance for emergency supplies. I've been buying budget ranges and building things up gradually, using equipment we already own where I can.
Why I'm preparing for three days of disruption
The UK government's Be Ready guidance recommends keeping three days of bottled water and non-perishable food. It encourages people to build up gradually, with a starting point of 3 litres of drinking water per person each day. This is practical preparedness advice, not a prediction that something terrible will happen on a particular date.
The difficulties getting certain groceries during the COVID pandemic also stayed with me. Leaving aside the toilet-roll situation, there were things I wanted for the household that I couldn't get when I expected to, and that made gaps in our cupboards much more noticeable. I don't want to recreate that rush to buy everything at once; I'd rather have a modest amount put aside before there's a problem.
You can't help but now see things on the news that make you think harder about how much we depend on services working normally. In early November, Reuters reported attacks affecting supermarket refrigeration in Europe, with spoiled food having to be discarded. UK reporting also described affected meat suppliers, and it was reported that some UK supermarkets are having issues as well, and that isn't, by any stretch of my imagination, to be taken as evidence that every supermarket is at risk of imminent shortages or that we should clear the shelves (please don't do that! )
Water supplies are another reminder that disruption doesn't always fit the season we'd expect. South East Water described severe drought conditions (in November), while also saying the situation was improving and pressure for further restrictions was easing, which shows that even with October rain downpours, that doesn't automatically mean every area's water resources have recovered; in fact, many of the ponds and local streams, to me, are nothing more than puddles still, which isn't great.
When I was growing up, power cuts were familiar enough that we had candles and matches ready. It was a different world back then, though; our electricity came from overhead power lines, which were located in the woods near our house, and that meant that when it got windy, trees fell, and they'd often take out the power lines as well, but with power lines now often underground, that issue seems to have gone away somewhat, but with computers controlling things more, it doesn't take much in the way of technology to cause issues! These days, it's easy to assume the lights, heating, internet and shops will be available whenever we want them, until something interrupts that routine. I don't need a dramatic winter forecast to see the benefit of having some food, water and lighting to hand.
Being a foster carer gives me another reason to prepare
I'm also a foster carer, which gives me another reason to think carefully about how we'd manage a disruption. I take my responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of a child in my care seriously, and for me that includes thinking ahead about food, warmth, any medicines they need and how we'd get help. Having a few practical arrangements in place feels like part of providing a dependable home, particularly when something outside our control interrupts normal life.
That doesn't mean I'm suggesting foster carers have a specific legal requirement to buy a three-day emergency kit or spend more than other families. My preparations need to fit the child's individual care arrangements and any guidance from our fostering service, so I'll raise emergency planning with my supervising social worker too.
Alongside the supplies, I want to think about familiar food, reassurance and who we'd contact, because looking after someone through an unsettling situation involves more than counting tins of beans!
What my roughly £50 has bought, and what it hasn't
Most of my extra food has come from budget ranges: baked beans, tinned vegetables, canned meat, hot dogs, spaghetti, soup and tinned fruit. I've also bought dried milk powder, cereal bars, honey and some chocolate, because a difficult couple of days doesn't need to be completely joyless. There's a mixture of larger water bottles and smaller ones, with around 100 litres stored at the moment.
To give you some actual examples, I paid 38p for a tin of baked beans at Aldi, 89p for tinned hot dogs and 65p for tinned ravioli. The hot dogs I bought had around three years left before their best-before date, which made them useful for this cupboard. Spaghetti hoops were 38p a tin and canned potatoes were 39p, so individual additions didn't have to cost very much.
I also picked up XL all-over body wipes for 99p, as something that could help with a quick clean when water is limited. These are the prices I paid; prices can vary, of course. Pack sizes and portions still matter when working out how many meals the food will cover.
I've used Amazon for a few items, water, for example, which cost me £14.88 for 72 bottles, which I thought was pretty reasonable and was convenient, and I bought water from Costco too. I'm not presenting either as the cheapest place for everyone; it's always worth shopping around, of course. Delivery charges, membership costs and the amount you can comfortably carry or store all affect whether buying that way makes sense for you.
The £50 is mainly the extra food and water, rather than the price of everything mentioned in this post. We already have things such as torches and power banks, and those would add to the cost if you were starting from nothing. There's no need to buy a boxed survival kit to begin preparing your household. However, they are available online if that's a route that's useful to you; it is something I've considered, as that 'ration pack' type option does appeal if I'm honest! I did a Google search for ration pack-type products, and it's a bit of a minefield, and some of them are so expensive and are actually unlikely to be something that the kids would actually eat, no matter how hungry they are! I also came across Huel's instant meals, which caught my eye because I've bought other Huel products before. These are meals you empty into a suitable bowl or pot and add boiling water to, so there isn't much cooking involved. You still need drinking water and a way to boil it, but I can see the appeal when you're trying to keep things simple.
At the £2.80 starting price per serving I saw advertised, that would be £11.20 for the four of us, before any delivery costs. That's more expensive than a meal made from budget tins, so I'd see these as an optional extra rather than something you need to buy, but I can see the appeal of them as they offer mixed boxes and they'd bring much-needed relief, I'm sure, from tinned beans! I haven't tried these particular meals yet, but I'll update the post if I do.
Start with the cupboards before spending anything.
Before adding more, it's worth looking at what you already have and thinking through actual meals. A cupboard might contain plenty of ingredients but very little that can become breakfast, lunch or dinner without cooking. Equally, you might already have enough suitable food and only need to fill a few gaps.
For four people over three days, breakfast, lunch and dinner amount to 36 individual meals, plus any snacks. That doesn't mean buying 36 tins, because sizes, portions and what you serve together make a difference. It means writing down what everyone would eat, so a pile of shopping turns into a plan rather than an optimistic guess.
I want the food to provide sustenance without costing a fortune, but there's little point in buying things the family won't eat. Familiar budget food makes more sense than an unfamiliar product marketed for emergencies, particularly if children have strong food preferences. Allergies, dietary restrictions and religious requirements still need to be accounted for when choosing the tins.
Finding room when the cupboards are already full
Storage is a problem for me too, even before we get into what everything costs. I've made some room in the cupboard under the stairs, which was already full of goodness knows what, but I couldn't keep adding supplies indefinitely. We also have an ottoman bed full of things that might be better stored elsewhere, so that could be another space to consider rather than buying more storage furniture.
The space still has to suit what goes in it, with food and water kept in the conditions their packaging specifies. An accessible, dry cupboard is more useful than supplies buried behind everything else, and heavy water containers need suitable support. I wouldn't move food into a loft to get it out of the way, especially somewhere that becomes very hot or cold, and supplies mustn't obstruct an escape route.
I overheard two people in the supermarket discussing this recently, and their point was that a one-bedroom flat didn't give them anywhere to keep lots of extra supplies. They were also talking about living day to day financially, without money left over to buy more. That's a fair challenge to advice that can sound as though everyone has a spare cupboard and a spare £50.
A cheap tin is still an extra expense if every penny is already accounted for. A few pounds might fill a gap in an existing cupboard, but I wouldn't promise that £5 buys a suitable three-day food supply for everyone, or assume everyone already has enough at home. Starting with what you own is useful; feeling guilty because you can't afford someone else's emergency kit isn't.
Reduced food and free surplus can help, if they fit the plan
Some of the items I've bought had yellow stickers because of things such as torn labels, despite still being comfortably within their dates. That can be a useful saving when the actual container is intact, and the food is something we'll use. I still need to be able to identify the contents, ingredients, allergens, date and storage instructions, so an unreadable label isn't much use to me.
A damaged paper label is different from damage to the packaging that protects the food. The Food Standards Agency's advice on cans distinguishes shallow dents from deep dents that may compromise the seal, and warns against bulging cans. Leaking containers or broken seals aren't a bargain for the emergency cupboard.
Olio lets people collect free surplus food locally, so it's another place to look rather than assuming everything has to be bought. What's offered varies, and food needing prompt use or refrigeration might help with today's meals rather than long-term supplies. That can still ease the grocery budget, but an emergency plan shouldn't depend on a particular listing being available when disruption starts.
Online surplus-food sellers, like Approved Food, are another option to compare, particularly for shelf-stable products being cleared as excess stock. The reason for the reduction matters: a short date, a large minimum order or delivery charges can make a seemingly cheap box unsuitable for a small household with limited space. Compare the total delivered cost and the quantities you can use, rather than filling a cupboard because the box looks like good value.
Best-before dates concern quality, while use-by dates concern safety. Food approaching its best-before date can be useful for normal meals. Still, it doesn't automatically suit something you intend to leave in storage for months. Food past a use-by date shouldn't be eaten, and any saving still depends on following the product's storage instructions.
Which foods work when you can't cook?
Baked beans are one of my cupboard favourites for this because they can form part of an ordinary meal as well as an emergency one. Ready-to-eat tinned foods can give you options without needing to boil a pan of water first. The distinction is whether the particular product is ready to eat: being sold in a tin doesn't mean every food can automatically be eaten without cooking, so follow its preparation instructions. If you're wondering what to put aside, think about a few meals you could make from ordinary cupboard food. Tinned tuna, salmon, baked beans, chickpeas and lentils give you some protein options, while tinned carrots, peas, sweetcorn and fruit help add variety. Crackers, oatcakes, cereal bars and dried fruit are useful too, particularly when someone wants a snack rather than another bowl of soup.
Tinned ham, corned beef and hot dogs are other possibilities, alongside familiar things such as ravioli, spaghetti hoops and potatoes. I'm not pretending hot dogs are the height of healthy eating, but having something familiar that the family will actually eat has its advantages during a difficult few days. I'd aim for a mixture, including some food you can eat without heating, rather than filling the cupboard with twenty tins of the same thing.
I've bought plenty of soup, although I recognise that a warm bowl of soup and a cold one are rather different prospects. Condensed soup can also need extra water, and some products have cooking instructions that matter. My plan needs enough food that works without heat, even though I have a camping stove available.
Small UHT cartons or individual portions of long-life milk could be useful, especially if you can finish each one when you open it. UHT milk still needs refrigeration once opened, so the advantage is avoiding half a large carton sitting around when the fridge isn't working. Milk powder is another option I've bought, although that does mean allowing extra drinking water to make it up.
How much water do four people need?
Using the government's 3-litre daily drinking-water guide, our calculation is four people multiplied by three days multiplied by 3 litres: 36 litres. That covers drinking, with extra needed for preparing food and washing. It also gives you a rough way to work out your own starting point without copying the amount I've bought.
Our roughly 100 litres is considerably more than that drinking-only figure. Spread over four people for three days, it's around 8.3 litres each per day for all the uses we draw on it for, so it still isn't permission to use water as freely as normal; we'll still need to be careful we don't waste it, when we likely won't know how long we need to rely on our supplies for, so we wouldn't tell every household to buy 100 litres, particularly if money or storage space is limited.
Large bottles suit home use, while smaller bottles are easier to carry if we need to take some with us. Stored water also needs a sensible home: 100 litres weighs about 100kg before packaging, so flimsy shelving isn't the place for it. I'll keep the bottles according to their storage instructions, away from cleaning products, and rotate them rather than treating them as something to forget about indefinitely.
Would I fill the bath if the power went off?
My first thought was to fill the bath, so we'd have extra water if the taps stopped running, as I've seen lots of posts on social media saying it's what you need to do! A power cut can disrupt mains water, but it doesn't mean every home's supply will stop within a few minutes.
Water kept in an ordinary bath isn't part of my drinking-water supply, because the bath may contain cleaning residues and other contamination. If storing water for non-drinking uses is appropriate, it needs to be kept safe from children and pets, and I wouldn't leave an accessible full bath unattended. Our bottled drinking water remains separate, rather than relying on bath water for drinks or preparing food.
Spare non-drinking water may help with flushing during a water-supply interruption if the drains and sewerage system are working. In a wider emergency, sewage pumping could also be affected, so putting more water into the toilet may be the wrong thing to do. The Chief Medical Officers' contingency advice for a national power outage includes not flushing when sewage systems aren't working.
The camping stove is an outdoor option.
I bought this camping stove from Amazon for about £30, and it's been ideal for my camping needs. I actually have two because I couldn't find the original earlier this year and bought a replacement; naturally, the first one then turned up in a carrier bag with my wetsuit, which was annoying at the time, although having a spare might now prove useful.
I use these gas canisters from Amazon to fuel it, and in my experience a canister lasts around 90 minutes to two hours, depending on how high I have the flame. That might not sound very long, but heating a portion of tinned food usually takes only a small part of that time, following the food's preparation instructions. I wouldn't turn it into a guaranteed number of meals, because the stove, conditions and how much food you're heating all make a difference.
I also look for canisters in supermarkets during the summer, when I've found them at good prices, and B&Q is another place I look for camping gas. Amazon was the cheapest option I found when I bought some recently; compare the cost per canister and the full delivered price: delivery charges may apply to these online purchases, and free delivery can depend on the seller, order or membership.
The canisters need to be the type specified for your particular stove, rather than chosen just because they look similar or cost less. Heat food in a suitable pan, not an unopened tin, and follow the stove's instructions on pan size and safe use. Having two stoves doesn't make them a source of indoor heating or change the need to use them outdoors.
I have camping gas and a stove, and I've got an outdoor space where it can be used. I originally thought opening a window would be enough if I needed to use it inside, but that isn't a safe plan. The NHS warns against using camping stoves indoors or inside tents because of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The stove will therefore be an outdoor option, used according to its manufacturer's instructions, rather than an indoor replacement for the cooker. It also isn't a way to heat the house, and bad weather could make cooking outside impractical. That's another reason to keep meals that need no heating at all.
I'm keeping the gas out of the house, but simply putting a cartridge somewhere outdoors doesn't settle every storage question. The manufacturer's directions still apply, including suitable ventilation and protection from heat and ignition sources. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service also advises changing camping-stove cartridges outdoors, away from ignition sources. A barbecue could also come in handy for heating food outdoors, using a suitable pan on a stable cooking surface. A fire pit or chiminea might be another option if it has a cooking grate or somewhere you can securely support cookware, although balancing a saucepan over a fire isn't something I'd recommend. These are outdoor options only, and if the weather makes cooking outside unsafe, that's where the food you can eat cold earns its place in the cupboard.
What happens to the fridge and freezer in a power cut?
I intend to use food from the fridge and freezer before working through the emergency tins, provided it's still safe. The Food Standards Agency's power-cut advice is to keep the doors closed as much as possible: a fridge should remain cold for around four hours, a full freezer frozen for up to 48 hours and a half-full freezer for around 24 hours. Those are estimates, affected by the appliance, the room temperature and how often the door opens.
A fridge thermometer is a useful addition because elapsed time doesn't tell the whole story. The FSA advises discarding food requiring refrigeration after four hours at 8°C or above, unless power is restored within that period. Food that needs cooking still needs to be cooked safely, so a freezer full of raw meat doesn't become an emergency meal simply because it's defrosting.
Lighting, charging and keeping warm
I've got charged torches, rechargeable batteries and ordinary USB power banks, as well as a wind-up torch (doesn't need batteries!) with a built-in radio and a USB connection that you can use to charge phones, etc. (although it will be slow, but it's better than nothing!) It didn't break the bank either, as I paid less than £17 for it, which I didn't think was too bad!
I also bought a Bluetti power station unit with a solar panel! The power station model I bought was the BLUETTI AC50B Power Station with 60W Solar Panel from B&Q, which cost me £428. Now I appreciate that's a lot of money, and it sits completely outside the roughly £50 I've spent mainly on extra food and water, and I'm very far from recommending everyone buys one!
I bought mine earlier this year, and it was purchased for camping and caravanning because during previous trips we were struggling for power. Now we have it; it's handled all our charging needs without any issues, but it was kind of an on-a-whim purchase which, at the time, I regretted as it's a lot of money, but it might have been divine intervention perhaps!
Having it available at home is another use for equipment we already own, rather than a reason everyone needs to spend hundreds of pounds preparing for a power cut; that's a tad excessive, I'd say, but if it's something you think you'll use year-round and your budget allows for it, then it might be a wise investment.
I also received cashback through Complete Savings on the power-station purchase. Complete Savings is a membership programme with an ongoing fee, so that cost needs to be considered alongside any cashback received. Still, other cashback services also offer cashback and are worth considering!
The 60W solar panel I bought with it can help recharge the power station, which is useful; that said, I wouldn't expect a short, dull December day to replenish it as quickly as a bright summer day, yet winter sunshine, or potentially a lack of it, doesn't automatically mean no generation: solar panels use daylight and can work in cloudy conditions.
How much mine could contribute depends on the panel, weather, positioning and the power station's charging requirements, so I'd see it as a possible top-up rather than something to rely on for unlimited power. If the 'emergency' were related to storms, snow or other bad weather events, then I'd expect it to be about as much use as a chocolate teapot!
I've bought candles and matches too, but battery lighting will be my first choice because torches are safer than candles during a power cut. Any candles used need proper holders, clear space away from things that burn, and an adult keeping watch; they must be out before sleep. The matches also need to be somewhere children can't get to them. I have seen people using fairy cake baking tins, or muffin tins, to add the round tealight-type candles into, one per hole, and that's a great idea. It's a safer way to use candles, as it reduces the chances of the candle being knocked over and causing a fire, and it also retains the wax better. Also, if it's secure, you can add a baking rack on top and use it to place a pan on which the candles can then heat, which means you are making use of both the candle's light and also heat, but do be VERY careful!
Make sure you think about health and first aid too.
I've added first-aid items such as plasters and bought some extra household medicines, including paracetamol and aspirin. These need to be suitable for the person taking them, kept in their original packaging and stored safely away from children. If you don't already have a first-aid kit, you can buy one ready-made or put together a basic box yourself. Plasters in different sizes, sterile dressings, bandages, medical tape, disposable gloves and cleansing wipes would be a useful start, along with small scissors, tweezers and a thermometer.
You don't need to turn the cupboard into a medical centre; the idea is to have the basics for dealing with minor cuts, grazes and everyday mishaps.
It's also worth checking what you've already got before buying more, because there may be a perfectly decent kit tucked away somewhere. Replace anything you've used, or that's out of date, and add the things your household regularly needs. A small first-aid booklet would be handy too, particularly if you can't get online when you need it.
Prescription medicines need their own plan, as they won't be things you'll find in a standard first-aid box. Speak to your doctor or pharmacist about maintaining your normal supply and any medicine that needs refrigeration if the electricity goes off. A paper record of medicines and doses would also be useful if a phone is flat or someone else needs to help.
I've bought disposable plates, bowls and cutlery to reduce washing up if water is limited. They won't remove the need for hand hygiene or clean food-preparation surfaces, but they could reduce one demand on our stored water. I also have bleach for appropriate cleaning jobs, used as directed on the label, never mixed with other cleaners and kept separate from food and drinking water.
Wet wipes, toilet paper and suitable waste bags are other things I'm thinking about, because the less glamorous jobs don't disappear when the power does. Wipes could help with a quick clean, but they don't replace handwashing with soap and safe water, particularly after using the toilet and before preparing food. Used wipes and nappy bags belong in the bin, not down the toilet, and any emergency arrangements for toilet waste need to follow local public-health instructions.
Clothing is another practical consideration, although for three days I'd concentrate on having clean underwear, socks and warm layers available rather than trying to maintain our usual washing routine. If water is scarce, washing a load of clothes competes with more immediate needs such as drinking, food preparation and hand hygiene. A longer interruption would raise different questions, which is why a three-day cupboard plan isn't meant to solve every possible situation indefinitely.
Rotating the food means it doesn't have to be wasted.
I'm buying food with a long shelf life because it would defeat the purpose if everything needed to be used next week. That doesn't mean ignoring dates or assuming every tin lasts forever. Packaging condition and the manufacturer's storage instructions still matter, and opened food may need refrigeration even when the unopened product didn't.
The plan is to bring older supplies into our normal meals and replace what we use. Putting newer tins behind older ones should make that easier than discovering a forgotten box years later. It also keeps this connected to our ordinary food budget, rather than creating a separate pile of food we never intend to eat.
What I'm adding to the plan next
My next step is to map out those three days of meals, check the portions and gather the useful equipment in places everyone can find. A fridge thermometer, a written contact list and an agreed family meeting point, plus also thinking about where we'd go if we did need to evacuate for any reason, which does sound like somethiong quite extreme, but if, for example, your house was flooded, you need to have a plan for where you'd go; perhaps a family members house, a friends home, or look at hotel options in advance, and have money set aside, in cash, for that scenario, as if it was a case of no electicity, then your credit/debit card may not be able to be used.
I'm also considering a small go bag in case we ever have to leave home. That would be a different job from storing supplies in a cupboard, with manageable amounts of water and food alongside medication, essential documents and charging equipment. The British Red Cross emergency-kit guide is useful for thinking through both situations without assuming you need specialist kit.
Some preparations cost nothing, including finding out whether we're eligible for extra help through utility suppliers' Priority Services Registers. Writing down important numbers and talking to neighbours about who might need assistance can also make a difference. If you're told to evacuate, following that instruction takes priority over gathering every item you've put aside.
Thinking through all the possible knock-on effects can make your head hurt, and I don't think the answer is to prepare for every imaginable disaster. The government's three-day approach is about being able to manage while help is directed towards people who need it most, not a promise that assistance will arrive at a particular hour. I want us to be more self-sufficient for a short period, while recognising that some households will need support much sooner.
A little emergency cash could be useful too, because cash machines and card payments might be affected during a power or communications outage. That doesn't mean withdrawing a fortune or leaving yourself short for this week's shopping. I'm doing all of this a bit at a time, with the aim of helping us manage a disruption a little better and buying food we'll eventually use even if the lights stay on.
Frequently asked questions
Do UK households need three days of emergency supplies?
The government's Be Ready campaign recommends preparing for three days of disruption with bottled water and non-perishable food. It's preparedness advice, rather than a requirement to buy a particular kit. Start with what you already have and fill the gaps as your budget allows.
Is £50 enough for a complete family emergency kit?
My roughly £50 spend is mainly extra food and water, and we already own equipment such as torches and power banks. It isn't a verified price for a complete kit for another household. What you need to spend depends on your existing supplies, household needs and local prices.
Can I use a camping stove indoors with a window open?
No, an open window doesn't make an outdoor camping stove safe to use indoors. Carbon monoxide can cause fatal poisoning. Use it outdoors according to its instructions and keep food available that doesn't depend on cooking.
How do I know whether I've bought enough food?
Plan breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for each person over the period you're preparing for. Account for portion sizes, dietary needs and whether the food can be eaten without cooking. Counting tins alone won't tell you whether the meals add up.
