Household Emergency Preparedness: The Complete Guide

Household emergency preparedness means that your home can look after the people and animals in it for several days when normal services stop. You do not need special training or a lot of money. You need water, food that needs no cooking, a way to see in the dark, a bag you can carry, a few papers, and a plan that everyone in the house knows. This guide shows each part in the order we suggest you do it, and links to a short article for each one.

One note before we start. Your civil-defence agency or emergency-management office sets the official advice for your country, and it knows your local hazards. Where this guide gives an example, use it to learn the method, then check the amounts and rules your agency publishes. When there is an event, follow the instructions that officials give through their official channels.

Why three days is the floor and two weeks is the goal

Most agencies tell households to be ready to cope alone for at least three days. The reason is simple. In a large event, help has to reach many places, and roads, power lines and water pipes may be damaged. Crews work on the most urgent problems first. Your street may be near the end of the list.

Three days is a minimum, not a target to be proud of. Some events last longer. A bad storm can cut a district off for a week. A long power failure in winter can last longer than that. A good goal is to build up to two weeks of water, food and medicine over time. You do not do it in one shopping trip. You add a little each week, and after a few months you are there.

A useful way to think about it: you are not preparing for a movie disaster. You are preparing for an ordinary bad week, when the tap is dry, the lights are out and the shops are closed.

Water: how much, where, how to keep it fresh

Water comes first because a person cannot go without it for long, and because every other task, from cooking to washing hands, needs it.

Your agency will tell you how much water each person needs each day for drinking and basic hygiene. Use that number. Then count everyone in the house, including children and pets, and multiply by the number of days.

Here is a worked example. Say your agency advises a certain number of litres per person per day. You live with a partner, two children and a dog. That is five living beings. Multiply the daily amount by five, then by three days. That is your three-day store. Write the number on a piece of paper and stick it on the cupboard door. When you grow the store to two weeks, you change the last number only.

Store water in containers you already own or can buy cheaply. Clean plastic bottles that held drinks are fine if you wash them well. Containers made for water storage, with a tight lid, are better. Keep them in a cool, dark place, away from petrol, paint and cleaning products. Write the date on each one with a marker.

Our article on how much water to store for an emergency walks through the sums for different households, and shows where to put the containers in a small flat.

Two more habits matter:

Fill when the warning comes. If a storm or a repair notice is announced, fill the bath, buckets and pans. This water is for washing and flushing, not for drinking, unless you treat it.
Treat questionable water. If the tap water might be unsafe, your agency will tell you how to make it safe. The usual methods are boiling, a filter made for the purpose, or purification tablets. Follow the instructions on the product and the advice of your water supplier.

Replace stored water on a schedule. Choose two dates a year that you will remember, such as the days the clocks change, and swap the water then.

Food that needs no power

The best emergency food is food your family already eats. Strange food from a "survival" shop is a waste if nobody likes it. Aim for things that are safe at room temperature and need little or no cooking: tinned beans, fish and vegetables, rice, pasta, oats, peanut butter, dried fruit, crackers, long-life milk, and sweet things for morale.

Make a simple list of meals. For example: oats with dried fruit for breakfast, a tin of beans with crackers for lunch, rice with tinned vegetables for dinner. Count what you need for three days. Then double it, and keep going.

Use a "first in, first out" shelf. When you buy more tins, put them at the back and move the older ones to the front. You eat from the stock in normal life and refill as you go. Nothing expires, and nothing is wasted.

Our article on a two-week emergency food supply from foods you eat gives a full method, including how to plan for a baby, an older person or someone on a special diet.

What about the fridge and freezer? When the power fails, eat from the fridge first, then the freezer, then the cupboard. Keep the doors shut as much as you can. How long food stays safe depends on your fridge, the temperature of the room and the food itself, so read how long food stays safe in the fridge without power and follow the food-safety guidance of your national authority. If you are not sure about a food, do not eat it.

You also need a way to open tins and, if you plan to heat food, a safe way to do it. Never use a barbecue, a camping stove or a petrol generator indoors. They can fill a room with a gas that you cannot see or smell. Cook outdoors, or eat food cold.

Light, heat and charging without mains

When the lights go out, people reach for candles. Candles cause house fires. Keep a torch (flashlight) or head torch for every person in the house, and keep spare batteries of the right size. A head torch leaves both hands free, which is very useful when you carry a child or a pot.

For the evening, a battery lantern lights a whole room. Keep it where you can find it in the dark, such as a hook by the front door or a drawer in the hall.

Heat is harder. If the heating stops in cold weather, the plan is to make one room small and warm, not to heat the whole house. Close the door, put a blanket over a window, put everyone in the same room, and wear layers and a hat. Our article on how to keep one room warm when the heating stops shows the steps, and what never to use as a heater.

For charging, keep a power bank charged and a short cable for each type of phone in the house. Turn down the screen brightness and close apps you do not need. A battery radio, or a radio with a hand crank, will give you official information even when phones do not work.

The go-bag and where it lives

A go-bag is a bag you can pick up and carry if you must leave in a hurry. Officials may tell you to evacuate for a flood, a fire or another danger. You may have only a few minutes.

Choose a bag that is comfortable to carry, such as a rucksack. Each adult carries their own. Put in:

Water and food for at least a day.
Any medicines, in their packs, with a list of what each is for.
A torch, spare batteries, a power bank and a cable.
A change of clothes, a warm layer and sturdy shoes or socks.
Basic hygiene items and a small first-aid kit.
Copies of key papers and some cash.
Items for babies, older people and anyone with special needs.

Keep it where you can reach it quickly, for instance in a cupboard by the front door. Do not put it in the attic or at the back of the garage. Check it twice a year, when you swap your stored water. Children grow, and clothes stop fitting.

Our go-bag checklist for a family has a longer list and ideas for splitting the weight between family members.

Documents and cash

If your home is damaged, or you must leave it, you may need to prove who you are. You may need to prove that you own or rent the home. You may need to show your insurance. Make copies of:

identity papers for each person
your lease or property papers
insurance policies and the number to call
vaccination records and a list of medicines
bank account details and the numbers to call if a card is lost
important phone numbers written on paper

Keep one set of paper copies in a waterproof bag in your go-bag. Keep another set stored safely somewhere else, for instance with a relative in another town. You can also keep scans in a protected store that you can open from any phone, but do not rely only on your phone, because it may be dead or lost.

Keep some cash in small notes. When the power is out, card machines and cash points often stop working. Small notes are better than large ones because shops may not have change. How much cash is right depends on your household and what your agency suggests.

The plan everyone in the house knows

A plan that only one person knows is not a plan. A good family plan answers four questions.

Where do we meet? Pick two places. One is near the home, such as a particular tree or a neighbour's gate, for a sudden event like a fire. One is outside your neighbourhood, for when you cannot go home.

Who do we call? Pick one person who lives far away to act as the contact. In a large event, local phone lines are often busy, but a call or message to a faraway number may get through more easily. Everyone in the family should have that number written down, not only saved in a phone.

What does each person do? Give jobs. One adult takes the go-bag. Another takes the children and the pets. A teenager can switch off the gas, water and electricity at the main points, if you have shown them how and if your supplier's advice says it is the right thing to do.

How do we know when to go or stay? Agree that you will follow the instructions of the authorities. Decide where you will get those instructions, such as a named radio station and the website of the emergency office.

Practise it once. Sit at the table with the children and walk through the plan like a story. Do it again after six months. Our article on a family emergency plan with meeting points and contacts includes a one-page layout you can copy by hand.

Pets and other animals

Pets depend on you completely. The rule is simple: if it is not safe for you to stay, it is not safe for your animals to stay. Do not leave them behind.

Prepare for them as you prepare for a person. Keep food and water for them in your supplies. Keep a carrier or a lead and a collar with a contact number. Keep a copy of vaccination records, because some shelters ask for them. Keep a clear photo on paper and on your phone, in case you are separated.

Many emergency shelters for people do not accept animals, and the rules differ from place to place. Find out before the event: ask your local authority, and make a list of places that accept pets, such as a relative with a garden, a pet-friendly hotel or a boarding kennel. Read our pet emergency kit checklist and evacuation plan to build the list.

If you keep farm animals or horses, the same ideas apply, but they need transport, water and a place to go. Talk to your local authority and neighbours in advance.

Common mistakes

Buying a big kit and never opening it. A kit you have never looked at will have the wrong things in it. Open it, check it, use the torch, taste the food.
Storing water next to fuel or chemicals. Plastic can take on smells. Keep water in a clean, cool place.
Relying on a phone for everything. Phones run out of battery and networks get busy. Keep paper lists and a battery radio.
Forgetting the people with special needs. Babies, older people, people with disabilities and people on regular medicines need extra items. Plan for them first.
Planning for one scenario only. A plan for a flood should also work for a fire. Keep it simple and general.
Never telling the neighbours. Neighbours are the first help you will have. Know who lives alone and who might need a hand.
Leaving the plan to "later". Do one small step each week. A little each week beats a big plan that never starts.

Quick reference checklist

Use this list as a weekly path. Do one line each week.

Count the people and pets in the house. Write the number down.
Work out your three-day water amount. Fill and label containers.
Add three days of food from items your family eats.
Put a torch and spare batteries in each bedroom.
Pack the go-bag. Put it by the front door.
Copy documents. Put one set in the go-bag, one set elsewhere.
Write the family plan. Share it. Practise it.
Add your pet's supplies.
Meet your neighbours.
Set two dates a year to check everything.

Questions people ask

How much money do I need to get ready?

You do not need to spend a lot. Start with what you already own: bottles, tins, blankets, a torch. Add a few items each time you shop. The first three days cost little, because most of the food is food you would eat anyway.

Where should I store everything in a small flat?

Use space that is wasted: under beds, on top of wardrobes, behind a sofa, in the bottom of a cupboard. Water is the heaviest item, so keep it low. Keep the go-bag near the front door. Keep a list of where each thing is.

How often should I check my supplies?

Twice a year is enough for most households. Pick two dates you will remember. At each check, swap the water, eat the oldest food and replace it, test the torches and radio, and update the contact list and the go-bag clothes.

Should I follow the advice on this page or the advice from my government?

Follow your government or civil-defence agency. This guide teaches the method and the habits. The official body knows your local hazards and sets the amounts, the rules and the instructions during an event.

Is it enough to be ready for three days?

Three days is the minimum most agencies suggest, and it is a good first goal. Over time, build toward two weeks. Each extra day of water, food and medicine gives your household more time to wait for help.

Learn this in five minutes

The ReadyCiv track "Water Storage and Treatment" gives you five short lessons: work out how much water your household needs, store it safely in containers you already own, fill baths and buckets when a warning comes, make tap water safe, and keep your store fresh. Each lesson takes about five minutes, so you can finish the first and most important part of household preparedness in one evening.