Prepping and Emergency Preparedness

Prepping does not have to mean preparing for an extreme or apocalyptic event. At its simplest, prepping means making sure a household can continue to function when something it normally relies upon becomes temporarily unavailable.

Modern homes depend on reliable supplies of electricity, water, food, fuel, communications and other essential services. Most interruptions are short, but occasionally an unexpected event can cause disruption lasting several days or longer.

Keeping sensible reserves and having alternative ways of meeting essential needs can make these situations considerably easier to manage.

What Should a Household Prepare For?

There are many realistic situations where some preparation could prove useful.

Long Power Cuts

Most UK power cuts are local and relatively short. However, severe weather, equipment failures and other problems can result in longer outages.

A prolonged electricity outage can affect much more than lighting. Depending on the property and local infrastructure, it can also affect:

• heating
• hot water
• refrigeration and freezers
• electric cooking
• internet access
• mobile phone charging
• heat pumps
• electric vehicle charging
• electrically pumped water systems

Even gas central heating normally requires electricity to operate the boiler, controls and circulation pump.

A resilient household could therefore keep rechargeable lighting, power banks and some foods that can be eaten without cooking.

Alternative cooking arrangements can also be useful, provided equipment is suitable for the intended location and is used safely.

Water Supply Interruptions

A burst main, maintenance work, contamination incident or infrastructure problem can interrupt the mains water supply.

Water is required not only for drinking but also for preparing food, washing, cleaning and sanitation.

Keeping some sealed drinking water at home provides an immediate reserve.

Government emergency-preparedness guidance notes that around 2.5–3 litres of drinking water per person per day is a minimum survival requirement, while around 10 litres provides considerably more flexibility for drinking, basic cooking and hygiene.

Stored rainwater can also be useful for non-drinking purposes such as flushing toilets and watering plants.

This can reduce the amount of valuable drinking water used for jobs that do not require potable water.

Temporary Food Shortages

The UK normally has an extremely reliable food supply, but individual products can occasionally become difficult to obtain.

Possible causes include:

• severe weather
• transport disruption
• crop failures
• industrial action
• international supply-chain problems
• temporary shortages of particular ingredients
• disruption to fuel or fertiliser supplies
• sudden increases in demand

Preparing for this does not require buying specialist survival food.

A much more practical approach is to create a rotating pantry containing foods that the household normally eats.

Older products are used first and replacements are placed behind them. The pantry therefore remains in continuous use rather than becoming a collection of emergency food that is eventually thrown away.

100 Days of Food

One of the projects explored by Homestead Project is whether it is practical to maintain approximately 100 days of nutritionally useful food for one person in an ordinary home pantry.

The objective is not simply to store enough calories to survive.

A better food reserve should contain a mixture of protein, carbohydrates, fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals and provide as much of normal nutritional requirements as reasonably possible.

Suitable foods could include:

• oats and other whole grains
• rice, pasta and other dried staples
• dried and tinned pulses
• nuts and seeds
• dried fruit
• tinned fruit and vegetables
• tinned tomatoes
• tinned fish
• cooking oils
• herbs, spices and seasonings
• appropriate vitamin or mineral supplements where obtaining a particular nutrient entirely from stored foods is impractical

This creates a pantry that can supplement normal shopping during a minor shortage but could also provide a substantial reserve during a more serious disruption.

Read our guide: 100 Days of Food Supplies

Preparing for a Heating Failure

A heating failure does not necessarily require a national emergency.

A boiler could simply break during a cold spell.

Repairs might normally be completed quickly, but parts shortages, severe weather or unusually high demand can result in delays.

Useful preparations can include warm clothing, blankets, sleeping bags and identifying a safe alternative way of heating at least one room.

Improving insulation and reducing draughts also makes a home more resilient because it loses heat more slowly if the heating stops.

Homes with solar panels, batteries or other alternative energy sources may have additional options, although many conventional solar installations automatically shut down during a grid outage unless specifically designed to provide backup power.

Cooking Without Normal Electricity or Gas

Food storage and energy resilience need to be considered together.

A cupboard containing large quantities of dried beans may provide excellent nutrition and long storage life, but dried beans require water and considerable cooking.

A resilient pantry should therefore contain a combination of foods.

Dried foods can provide inexpensive bulk storage for periods when cooking facilities remain available, while foods such as nuts, dried fruit, tinned fish and ready-to-eat tinned pulses can provide nutrition with little or no cooking.

It can be useful to keep at least part of the food reserve capable of being eaten without relying upon normal cooking facilities.

Communications During a Power Cut

Internet routers require electricity and mobile networks can also be affected during widespread disruption.

Useful backup equipment can include:

• charged power banks
• battery or wind-up radios
• battery-powered torches
• spare batteries
• important telephone numbers written down rather than stored only on a phone

A radio can provide information even when internet access is unavailable.

Severe Weather

Storms, flooding, snow and other severe weather can create several problems at the same time.

Roads may become difficult to use, electricity supplies can be interrupted and deliveries can be delayed.

Having several days of essential supplies means there is less need to travel during dangerous conditions simply because the household has run out of food or another basic item.

Temporary Supply-Chain Disruption

Modern supply chains are highly efficient, but this efficiency also means many products travel through complex international networks before reaching consumers.

Disruption does not necessarily mean that food disappears completely. More commonly, particular products may become temporarily unavailable or considerably more expensive.

A rotating pantry provides a buffer.

Instead of needing to buy a product immediately, a household can use its existing stock and replenish it when normal availability or prices return.

This can make preparedness financially useful even when no emergency occurs.

Financial Emergencies

Preparedness can also help with a much more personal type of emergency: a sudden reduction in household income.

Loss of employment, an unexpected bill or another financial problem can make ordinary grocery expenditure difficult for a period.

A well-stocked rotating pantry effectively contains food that has already been paid for.

The same principle can apply to other household essentials that are bought when inexpensive and gradually used and replaced.

Medicines, Hygiene and Everyday Essentials

Food and water are only part of household resilience.

Depending on individual circumstances, useful supplies might include toiletries, toilet paper, cleaning products, pet food, batteries and a first-aid kit.

Anyone dependent upon prescription medication or electrically powered medical equipment should follow appropriate professional and supplier guidance when making contingency plans.

Avoid Panic Buying

Preparedness should be the opposite of panic buying.

Buying unusually large quantities after a shortage has already started can increase pressure on supplies and leave less available for other people.

A rotating pantry can instead be built gradually.

Adding one or two additional long-life products during an ordinary weekly shop can slowly create a substantial reserve without a large one-off expense or sudden demand on retailers.

Start With the Most Likely Problems

There is no need to prepare for every imaginable disaster.

A sensible starting point is to consider what would happen if the household temporarily lost:

Electricity. Water. Heating. Internet access. Transport. Access to shops.

Could the household comfortably manage for a day?

What about three days?

A week?

Increasing resilience gradually can be far more practical than attempting to become completely self-sufficient immediately.

From Emergency Supplies to Greater Self-Sufficiency

Emergency preparation also overlaps with many of the wider aims of Homestead Project.

Solar panels and battery storage can reduce dependence on purchased electricity. Rainwater collection can provide water for gardens and other non-potable uses. Growing food can supplement supermarket purchases. A well-managed pantry can reduce dependence on frequent shopping.

None of these measures makes a household completely independent.

Together, however, they can make a home less vulnerable to temporary shortages, outages, price rises and interruptions to everyday services.

The aim is not to expect a disaster.

It is simply to be better prepared when normal everyday systems temporarily stop working.