Start Here: Your Practical Preparedness Plan
Advice first. Equipment second. Start with our one personalised Build My Plan questionnaire. It adapts to your household and whether you are staying home, leaving home, travelling or preparing for a disruption. It counts what you already own and produces one printable plan before suggesting purchases. The detailed guides below are optional reading, not additional questionnaires you must finish.
Choose the situations that matter to you: visit UK Emergency Scenarios for practical concerns discussed by UK households alongside official guidance for all four nations. You can then use the free questionnaire to build a plan based on your answers.
Step 1 — Think about your household
List everyone you need to support, including children, people with accessibility needs, pets and anybody who relies on medical equipment or regular medicines. Know your home’s safe exit routes, where to meet if separated, and how to contact each other.
Step 2 — Look at everyday interruptions
Start with the situations most likely to affect your routine: a power cut, a water outage, travel delays and unsuitable weather. Check your own exposure, local services and available alternatives.
Keep your progress in one place: start with Build My Plan. The adaptive questionnaire assesses your household, equipment counts, immediate priorities and personal or shared kits; it lets you save on your own device and export a private backup. The detailed readiness checklist is an optional separate tool and does not synchronise automatically with your main plan.
Step 3 — Count the essentials you already have
Build My Plan asks about your food, drinking water, personal lighting, communal supplies, spare power and other equipment relevant to your answers. For a more detailed calculation only if you need it, try the optional Food Reserve Planner or Water Planning Guide. These specialist tools do not automatically update your main plan.
Step 4 — Prepare a 72-hour household action plan
Also consider how to stay in contact without reliable broadband or phone service and practical first-aid learning and household supplies. Both guides cover all four UK nations.
Our 72-Hour Household Checklist covers contacts, key information, food, water, medicines, basic warmth and communication. Print it for offline use and keep it where everyone can find it.
Step 5 — Check journeys and vehicles
Stay or leave? When home remains safe, staying there is often more practical than an improvised journey. Know when to leave, check vehicle fuel, plan a second destination and avoid assuming a forest can sustain you. Read Stay or Go? A realistic preparedness and backup plan.
Use the Trip and Car Kit Builder for daily work driving, longer road trips, camping and bushcraft. Update your essentials seasonally with the Vehicle Kit Maintenance Guide.
Step 6 — Keep what you own working
Record checks on torches, batteries, food, water, alarms and vehicle equipment in the Equipment Maintenance & Seasonal Readiness Planner. Follow manufacturer schedules and keep your private saved checklist up to date.
Step 7 — Make a sensible shopping list
Mark what you own and what still needs attention. Shop everyday goods at supermarkets or ordinary retailers when that gives the best value. Buy specialist equipment only when you know what problem it solves. Our Independent Advice page explains our approach.
When something happens
Follow the instructions from emergency services and relevant authorities. In immediate danger call 999. Never delay evacuation to collect belongings. Check local weather, water supplier, network operator and emergency alerts for current guidance.
Sources and further reading
UK Government Prepare campaign · Food Standards Agency: food safety in emergencies.
Guide reviewed 14 October 2026. General planning guidance—not a guarantee of safety. Check current official advice and the circumstances of your household.