Home Preparedness for Beginners: Where Should Your Family Start?

When you hear the words emergency preparedness, what comes to mind?

A cupboard filled with months of food? Expensive equipment? A garage that looks like a survival warehouse?

For most families, preparedness doesn’t need to look like any of those things.

It begins with a few simple questions:

• What disruptions are most likely to affect our home?

• What would we struggle without for 24 hours?

• How would we contact one another?

• What do our children, pets or vulnerable relatives need?

• Could we manage if the electricity, water or internet suddenly stopped?

Preparedness isn’t about expecting disaster. It’s about making everyday disruptions easier to manage—and helping your family feel calmer when something unexpected happens.

What are you actually preparing for?

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by dramatic scenarios. Instead, begin with events that UK families genuinely experience:

• A power cut

• A temporary water outage

• Severe weather

• Flooding

• Transport disruption

• Being unable to get home

• A mobile or internet outage

• A short period when you cannot reach the shops

• An unexpected evacuation from your home

The UK Government’s Prepare campaign recommends taking simple steps that can help across many different emergencies. Many cost nothing and take only a few minutes. UK Government: Get prepared for emergencies

Ask yourself:

If something disrupted our normal routine this evening, what would cause us the biggest problem?

Your answer is the best place to start.

Step one: Have a family conversation

Before buying equipment, talk to the people you live with.

You don’t need to frighten children or present them with a list of everything that could go wrong. Keep the conversation calm and practical.

Discuss questions such as:

• Who would collect the children if we couldn’t get to their school?

• Where would we meet if we couldn’t return home?

• Who could we call locally for help?

• Do the children know their home address?

• Do they know how and when to call 999?

• What would we do with our pets if we had to leave?

• Is there anyone nearby who might need our help?

Make sure your children’s school or childcare provider has your current contact information. Older children should gradually learn important names, addresses and telephone numbers.

Reader question: Does everyone in your household know what to do if they cannot contact you?

Step two: Create a simple household plan

A household emergency plan doesn’t need to be complicated. One sheet of paper can be enough.

Include:

• Family contact numbers

• A nearby meeting place

• A second meeting place outside your immediate area

• School and childcare details

• Details of essential medication

• Insurance contact information

• Details of anyone who may need additional support

• The location of important documents

• Arrangements for pets

• The power-cut number: 105 in England, Scotland and Wales

• Instructions for turning off your water, gas and electricity

Keep a paper copy somewhere easy to find. Phones can run out of power, become damaged or lose their signal, so don’t rely entirely on digital information.

You could also add an emergency contact and relevant medical information to the Medical ID or emergency settings on your phone.

You can get an Everyday Resilience Workbook here. Keep it digitally and also print to keep a physical copy in your home.

Reader question: If your phone stopped working now, how many important numbers could you remember?

Step three: Prepare for your first 24 hours

Don’t begin by trying to prepare for weeks. Start with one day.

Imagine that your electricity and water are unavailable until tomorrow. Walk through an ordinary day in your home:

• How would you light the rooms safely?

• How would you charge your phone?

• What could everyone eat without cooking?

• What would you drink?

• How would you receive reliable updates?

• Could you keep your children warm and occupied?

• Would any medication or medical equipment be affected?

• What would your pets need?

This exercise will quickly reveal the most useful items for your household.

A basic starter kit might contain:

• Battery-powered or wind-up torches

• Spare batteries

• A charged power bank and suitable cables

• A battery-powered or wind-up radio

• A first-aid kit

• Essential medication

• Bottled water

• Ready-to-eat food

• A manual tin opener

• Wet wipes and hand sanitiser

• Warm blankets

• Copies of useful contact details

• Baby, pet or medical supplies where required

Torches are safer than candles during a power cut. Store your supplies together in a place that can be reached easily in the dark.

You don’t have to purchase everything immediately. Add one or two useful items during your normal shop and build your supplies gradually.

Step four: Think about water and food

Water is one of the easiest essentials to overlook.

UK Government guidance refers to a minimum of approximately 2.5–3 litres of drinking water per person per day, with more required for cooking, basic hygiene, pets, baby formula or certain medical needs.

Rather than aiming for a perfect stockpile, begin with enough drinking water to support your household through a short interruption. Rotate it according to its storage instructions.

Next, look through the food you already have.

Could you make a family meal without electricity or running water? Consider familiar foods that:

• Your family will actually eat

• Have a reasonable shelf life

• Require little or no preparation

• Can be rotated through normal meals

• Meet allergies and dietary requirements

Preparedness food should not sit forgotten at the back of a cupboard. Buy what you normally use, use what you store and replace it as you go.

Reader question: What is the one food your children would reliably eat during a stressful or unfamiliar situation?

Step five: Consider your family’s individual needs

No two households should have identical plans.

A family with a baby will have different priorities from a household containing an older relative. Someone who depends on refrigerated medication, mobility equipment or electrically powered medical equipment will require additional arrangements.

Consider:

• Prescription medication

• Medical information and equipment instructions

• Backup batteries or charging options

• Mobility and communication needs

• Baby formula, nappies and comfort items

• Sensory needs or additional support for children

• Pet food, medication, carriers and leads

• Spare glasses or contact-lens supplies

Eligible households can join their utility companies’ Priority Services Registers, which allow providers to understand that additional support may be needed during an interruption. Registration must normally be completed separately with the relevant energy and water providers.

Reader question: Who in your household would be affected first by a loss of power, water or heating?

Step six: Know how you will receive information

Good information can be as important as physical supplies.

UK Emergency Alerts can warn compatible mobile devices about life-threatening situations such as severe flooding, wildfires and extreme storms. Alerts are based on your current location, and the Government does not need your phone number or location details to send them. GOV.UK: Emergency Alerts

Your information plan could also include:

• Local authority alerts

• Flood warnings, if relevant to your area

• Met Office weather warnings

• Local radio frequencies

• Your electricity network operator

• Your water provider

• School communication systems

Be cautious about unverified information circulating through social media or neighbourhood groups. During an incident, check official sources before sharing claims with others.

Your first seven-day preparedness challenge

Getting started can be easier when the task is broken into small actions:

1. Day one: Discuss the most likely disruption to your household.

2. Day two: Write down your important contact numbers.

3. Day three: Find your torches and check their batteries.

4. Day four: Review your food and drinking-water supplies.

5. Day five: Locate important documents and medication details.

6. Day six: Agree on a family meeting place.

7. Day seven: Identify the biggest remaining gap in your plan.

At the end of the week, your household will already be better prepared than it was at the beginning—and you won’t need a garage full of specialist equipment to achieve it.

Preparedness is a habit, not a shopping list

The strongest household isn’t necessarily the one that owns the most supplies. It is the one that has considered its needs, involved the family and taken a few sensible precautions.

Start small. Make the first step affordable. Review your arrangements as your children grow and your circumstances change.

Most importantly, remember the purpose: not fear, but reassurance.

Join the conversation

Where would your family struggle most during a 24-hour disruption?

Is it food, water, communication, heating, medication—or simply knowing where to begin?

Share your answer in the comments. Your experience may help another family recognise something they have overlooked.

One final challenge: choose one action from this article and complete it today. What will yours be?