A Prepper's Nine-Item Upgrade to the UK's Be Ready Checklist

Prepper Press writer Derrick James says the British government's Be Ready campaign, which asks UK households to keep three days of supplies, is a fair start but too thin. He offers his own nine-item list.

Key points

• Too short: James calls three days "a joke," noting that parts of western North Carolina lacked running water for weeks after Hurricane Helene in 2024 and some Maine homes lost power for two weeks or more in the 1998 ice storm.
• Water: The UK figure of three liters per person per day means 36 liters, under 10 gallons, for four people over three days, drinking only. He adds a gravity-fed filter and stackable water bricks.
• Food and power: He suggests stocking more of the food your family already eats, a portable power station with a folding solar panel instead of a basic power bank, and a hand-crank emergency radio.
• Heat and light: Stored fuel such as firewood or propane, wool blankets, a rechargeable headlamp, indoor-rated heaters and a carbon monoxide detector.
• Medical and sanitation: A first aid kit with a tourniquet, pressure bandage and hemostatic gauze, plus a 5-gallon bucket toilet with contractor bags, sawdust or kitty litter, and unscented bleach.

Quick take

James credits the UK list for telling people to keep cash, talk to neighbors and hold extra prescription medicine, and says it beats having nothing. He urges readers to keep building on it at a steady pace.

Read the full story at Prepper Press.