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What 'meals' are you putting in your 3-day emergency kit?

157 replies

CheeryOnion · 27/10/2026 09:20

Please be gentle, my mental health is delicate and I'm trying not to panic about preparing a suitable emergency kit for my family of 4.

I just wondered what meals you are putting in your kits please? It's me, my partner and our 2 DC (8).

I'd like to write a 3 day 'meal plan' which I can laminate and pop in my box so I'm fully prepared (for MH reasons I think this will make me feel a lot calmer)

Breakfast lunch and dinner with snacks.

Drinks
Water
Hot chocolate (we're not tea/coffee drinkers)
Long life milk.
Squash

Breakfast
Weetabix
Porridge oats
Tinned fruit
Long life milk

Lunch
Dry spaghetti & Tinned Bolognese
Baked beans & ?
?

Dinner
Rice & Tinned curry
?
?

I'm so sorry if this is a silly question I'd just really appreciate some help so I can do a shop, prepare it and 'forget' about it! I'm finding it very stressful.

Thank you :)

OP posts:
HowNowBrownCow33 · 27/10/2026 15:24

Tbh we've just got some tins of tuna and some rice sachets in the cupboard, plus some baked beans. Im not stashing anything away that we wouldnt usually eat because chances are we wont end up using it

3 days is not a lot. You'll also have your existing food so probably bread, cheese, jam/peanut butter, cereal. We normally have plenty of carrot/celery/tomatoes in the fridge and fruit, plus snacks in the cupboards. Im basically just not letting the cupboards run bare.

HowNowBrownCow33 · 27/10/2026 15:27

We also have loads of stuff in the freezer. Im sure I will survive on a combination of crisps, tuna and cold baked beans if it comes to it, but also dont forget the fresh food that will keep at least a day or two plus the freezer

ACR7 · 27/10/2026 15:28

Soup, pot noodles, pasta and tinned tomato’s, times of rice pudding. I’m just popping one extra thing in my trolly when I go. Got a little shelf building up. All stuff I would eat anyway so no waste

HowNowBrownCow33 · 27/10/2026 15:34

TrappedByThisDesk · 27/10/2026 13:52

Totally agree. It should be about storing a little more of the things you always eat anyway, rotating the items, and always replacing what you use.

The problem arises for those who almost never eat tinned or dried or long-life food, except maybe some rice and the spice jars. There are people who always shop and eat from the fridge or freezer: ready meals, fresh veg and salad, sometimes frozen veg, fresh pasta, refrigerated sauces, fresh meat, etc. etc.
The ever-increasing size of domestic fridges is testament to this.
When not eating fresh, they get takeaways or eat out.

These people will either not get in any emergency supplies, or they will get in some stuff to put aside, never touch, and bin in a couple of years when it goes out of date.

We have in the last few decades become so "spoiled" when it comes to the availability of fresh refrigerated meals in supermarkets. Our great grandmothers cooked from raw ingredients, involving a lot of flour. 😀

Most fresh veg, cheese, yoghurt etc will keep out the fridge for 3 days, or keep in the fridge with the door shut, and you aren't going to perish eating some veg and rice for a couple of days.

I think essentially just dont let your cupboards run bare is all we should be doing. It doesn't have to be complete meals stashed away in a bomb shelter

72Kit · 27/10/2026 15:49

Here's a no-cook version you could laminate. Breakfast every day: cereal or Weetabix with UHT milk, tinned fruit. Lunch: day 1 crackers, tinned tuna, cheese triangles; day 2 wraps with peanut butter and banana chips; day 3 tinned beans or ravioli (fine cold) and bread rolls. Dinner: day 1 tinned chicken curry with pouch rice; day 2 tinned Bolognese with pouch pasta; day 3 tinned soup and oatcakes. Snacks: cereal bars, raisins, crisps. Pouch rice and pasta can be eaten cold if needed. Plus water, 3 litres each per day. Then forget about it!

bellinisurge · 27/10/2026 15:56

@72Kit nice one

CrystalSingerFan · 27/10/2026 16:22

MintTwirl · 27/10/2026 14:32

My cupboards are pretty well stocked most of the time. I did buy a litre of Baileys to keep me warm, ease my anxiety and dull the teens moaning if we have no WiFi.

The BBC News page on the newspapers yesterday (?) showed a headline with some bloke saying 'Here's my stockpile plan: Burgundy and Foie Gras'. Sounded good to me.

GameOfJones · 27/10/2026 16:34

We have a camping stove, gas BBQ and a fire pit so I'm not so worried about how to heat food but I haven't bought too much that would need lots of water to cook it. I'm also only buying things we will actually use so nothing gets wasted.

Breakfasts - cereal and long life oat milk (I don't like UHT cow's milk but the Plenish milk that's just oats and water is fine. It would also do as a drink in an emergency.) Boxes of flapjacks or similar oaty breakfast bars.

Lunches/Dinners - we always keep plenty of cheese, apples, pears and satsumas in the fridge. These would last for days if the fridge went off. Similarly we always keep a loaf of bread and a carton of milk in the freezer so would prioritise eating that if we had a long lasting power cut. Eggs and potatoes last a long time too so always have plenty of those.

Wraps or rye bread also often have very long dates on them so we always have a couple of packs of each in the cupboard. With peanut butter that would fill us up well.

Tinned tuna, microwave rice, baked beans, mixed beans, jars of pesto, tinned soup. You can also cook small pasta like orzo directly in tinned tomatoes or jarred pasta sauce so you wouldn't need to use water there which may be helpful. You can buy chorizo in Lidl that doesn't need refrigerating if you want some meat.

Snacks - crackers with peanut butter, crisps, biscuits, dried fruit, nuts, tinned fruit and custard.

Other stuff - bottled water, vodka (for drinking and for sanitising if necessary!), torches, power banks, candles, matches, toilet roll, bin liners, battery radio and spare batteries, water sanitising tablets and baby wipes for keeping clean and preserving water if it goes off.

I think we'd be fine for a few days eating cereal with long life milk and dried fruit for breakfast, cheese or peanut butter on crackers for lunches or heating up a tin of soup. Then tuna, pesto and mixed bean salad or frying up eggs, potatoes and chorizo on the camping stove for dinners.

With crisps, booze and some biscuits for morale I'm sure we'd be ok.

Applestroodle · 27/10/2026 16:35

BashfulClam · 27/10/2026 14:39

Rather than gas burners as I would’ve like a gas tank lying around look up hexi stoves (used these in cadets island DOE) but you can also heat sons over several relights, takes longer but does work. Put a cooling rack over them and then your tin/pan etc.

Hexi fuel is banned now. Unless you have a Explosives Precursors and Poisons (EPP) licence that is.

bellinisurge · 27/10/2026 16:38

@Applestroodleforgot about that. Pretty certain I have hexi fuel brick in my garage

sashh · 27/10/2026 16:40

Statsquestion1 · 27/10/2026 10:53

We purchased a gas camping stove.

You can also get kettles and cooking appliances that work from afar cigarette lighter.

Ohthatsabitshit · 27/10/2026 17:07

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 27/10/2026 15:03

How would you cook it?

We have a gas hob and gas central heating (mains gas). I think we'd be able to cook using the hob even if the electricity went off because we'd be able to light the gas with a match. If the gas went off but we still had electricity we'd be OK because we have the oven, a microwave, slow cooker (from the 1980s, still working perfectly), kettle and toaster. If they both went off, we'd have to exist on what was left in the fridge, the defrosting stuff out of the freezer if possible, and our stocks of dried food, tins, packets, jars etc. It would not be ideal but we'd cope.

Losing gas over the winter would be grim, though, as we'd have no hot water except what we could heat on the hob. We do have one open fire and a couple of ancient electric radiators. We have a lot of blankets and quilts. We'd manage.

No mains water - we do have some stashed, and we have a butt full of rainwater which we couldn't drink but could use for other things. I think lack of water would be the worst of the lot.

I don't like UHT milk or powdered milk. Once our fresh milk ran out, if we could boil water I'd happily drink black tea rather than have no tea. For coffee and other things I'd use evaporated milk, which I quite like.

We have a gas bbq, a camping suitcase thingy, a woodburning stove, an open fire, and fires in the garden. I’m pretty sure we’d be able to cook.

BiddyPopthe2nd · 27/10/2026 17:11

For power outages (electric oven) and problems with the gas hob, my immediate backup is the gas bbq in the garden (I just wrap up and cook outdoors) or my 1 ring gas stove for camping that I would use in the shed with the door open in really foul weather.

But I have experimented with tealights in the past and made scrambled eggs (small batches) and heated milk for hot chocolate. I am not sure I would cook meat from raw, as I’m not sure it would get hot enough, but I would happily reheat a previously made sauce defrosted from freezer or jar of sauce from cupboard. But it is slow and needs to work on smaller amounts so difficult for a large family meal.

Carriemac · 27/10/2026 17:27

I’ve got some of the fondue set Ethanol canisters I think I coudl reheat a can of stew with that? Haven’t used the fondue set since the 90s :)

Applestroodle · 27/10/2026 17:47

sashh · 27/10/2026 16:40

You can also get kettles and cooking appliances that work from afar cigarette lighter.

or my 1 ring gas stove for camping that I would use in the shed with the door open in really foul weather.

I would just use it in the house. The only difference between a camping gas stove and a gas hob is that the hob normally has flame failure devices. So, never leave a camping gas stove lit unattended indoors. Including sheds.

TrappedByThisDesk · 27/10/2026 18:30

HowNowBrownCow33 · 27/10/2026 15:34

Most fresh veg, cheese, yoghurt etc will keep out the fridge for 3 days, or keep in the fridge with the door shut, and you aren't going to perish eating some veg and rice for a couple of days.

I think essentially just dont let your cupboards run bare is all we should be doing. It doesn't have to be complete meals stashed away in a bomb shelter

I think essentially just dont let your cupboards run bare

That is what I am saying. Some people always have cupboards that a pretty much bare because they live from the fridge and freezer. These are the ones most likely to stash a box of stuff away and then bin it in two years because they are not used to eating dried and tinned food.

Happyjoe · 27/10/2026 20:39

Eristealviper · 27/10/2026 10:26

We get random (well electricity men never know why they’ve happened or how long it’ll be to get it back 😂🤔) powercuts here, so I’ve lately have made a collection of rechargeable lamps as cleaning teeth by candlelight & negotiating right angle bend (cannot leave candle due to cat/fire danger) in staircase @ night is tedious.

Don't know if it helps but we've used these for years. Started when we had FIL stay with us to recover delirium and they were great for him to walk to the loo in a house he didn't know so well. Be ideal for you!
www.amazon.co.uk/Battery-Powered-Cupboard-Bedroom-Bathroom/dp/B09FQ1KCJQ/ref=sr_1_8?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.H7DuSgt6kAWo6_OspPEdK31PugSxEmGzcj88LZ8c6bEZeY6nB8GFY6NKAz_r-QbFFrxIds95ks--_j8EpVpCBxrpS92sOn8CnCzH7-k5u3LoJTd-Pa1xSSN0EUi-ZAxtzC4qozV41XcTFrBQaPauBjYZZBpYdEe4Rfrw4csGfAEuaVjUTLyaZ9Cj-sgYwwBBOZ2GqQjquKdCvmNJtD0OITSWCEquuFkAk8WO43YDSOxcmzvbwXwuQO8rHT11zg4t7hedJJb89I2ORiZUmRkkmgo2DTcPWWSuan_DkN1ZOFQ.fjf5796NP9MCQ0LvBKM6KRVkMQriKFsbgE3lJ3C6VLA&dib_tag=se&keywords=battery+night+light&qid=1793133477&sr=8-8

BitOutOfPractice · 27/10/2026 22:31

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 27/10/2026 15:03

How would you cook it?

We have a gas hob and gas central heating (mains gas). I think we'd be able to cook using the hob even if the electricity went off because we'd be able to light the gas with a match. If the gas went off but we still had electricity we'd be OK because we have the oven, a microwave, slow cooker (from the 1980s, still working perfectly), kettle and toaster. If they both went off, we'd have to exist on what was left in the fridge, the defrosting stuff out of the freezer if possible, and our stocks of dried food, tins, packets, jars etc. It would not be ideal but we'd cope.

Losing gas over the winter would be grim, though, as we'd have no hot water except what we could heat on the hob. We do have one open fire and a couple of ancient electric radiators. We have a lot of blankets and quilts. We'd manage.

No mains water - we do have some stashed, and we have a butt full of rainwater which we couldn't drink but could use for other things. I think lack of water would be the worst of the lot.

I don't like UHT milk or powdered milk. Once our fresh milk ran out, if we could boil water I'd happily drink black tea rather than have no tea. For coffee and other things I'd use evaporated milk, which I quite like.

Lots of modern gas hobs have a fail safe that cuts off the gas if there’s no electricity (sensible if you think about it!) so I would check the manual. Especially if it’s a newish hob.

SuddenDaredJelly · 27/10/2026 23:22

I am kind of a natural prepper so I approach this differently!

We have a camping stove and a dozen gas cans, a lot of barbecue coal & firewood for the fire pit so we can cook.

I have loads of stuff anyway. I like to have well stocked cupboards, these are all things i use regularly anyway, i have not bought anything specially.

Various flours (bread, self raising, plain, pasta)
Sugar, oils, butter
Rice, pasta, couscous, noodles
Cereal, oats
Bags of nuts, raisins, dried apple & apricots
Milk powder
Tins (veg, meat, beans, fish, fruit)
Peanut butter, jams, jarred sauces, pestos
Plenty of dried herbs & stock cubes
Lots of bottled water
3 month supply of vitamins

Kingdomofsleep · 28/10/2026 08:11

BitOutOfPractice · 27/10/2026 22:31

Lots of modern gas hobs have a fail safe that cuts off the gas if there’s no electricity (sensible if you think about it!) so I would check the manual. Especially if it’s a newish hob.

I never knew this, thank you. Sounds like our only cooking option in a longer power cut is the bbq. We have a coal one rather than a gas one. Thankfully we've (accidentally) stockpiled coals because dh buys enormous sacks at a time.

I have been thinking of training myself to cook "ordinary" food on the coal bbq. Stuff my kids eat regularly for an ordinary dinner. For example I want to try cooking jacket potatoes, fried rice (using pouch rice).

I think if we fired it up in the morning, it could do a hearty hot lunch, tea or coffee in the moka pot in the daytime, and then by evening when it is cooling down it could do things that require less heat like fried eggs, warm milk.

I'm feeling really heartened by the pps above who said that they found power cuts etc "fun" as a child. Really hoping we can convey that spirit to our kids if it came to it.

Kingdomofsleep · 28/10/2026 08:23

Stuff like this makes me think how spoiled we are (by we I mean my own family) - we can eat whenever we want everyday. If one of us spontaneously announces we crave something specific, one of us jumps on the bike to big sainsburys and can buy it instantly. We have got into the habit of two hot meals every day, lunch and dinner, even when wfh with no kids around. The kids are fussy eaters, because they can be. They have really specific preferences like samphire or yellow peppers or laoganma spicy sauce. Not even expensive stuff, just really specific. Red or green peppers won't get touched!

It would be a huge, huge lifestyle adjustment for us if the country started having regular power outages etc and we had to switch to eating a lot of cold food and food from tins. They just don't have the mindset of "this is what you're getting, just eat it".

BiddyPopthe2nd · 28/10/2026 12:28

Applestroodle · 27/10/2026 17:47

or my 1 ring gas stove for camping that I would use in the shed with the door open in really foul weather.

I would just use it in the house. The only difference between a camping gas stove and a gas hob is that the hob normally has flame failure devices. So, never leave a camping gas stove lit unattended indoors. Including sheds.

I meant I’d open the door to the shed and cook in there out of the weather - staying beside it all the time as I’ve seen these stoves go up when not attended before.

I wouldn’t advocate indoor use, especially in winter, due to potential build up of carbon monoxide, particularly when bad weather and power cuts mean you’re likely to be keeping windows closed and minimising ventilation to save what heat you can make.

Applestroodle · 28/10/2026 12:36

BiddyPopthe2nd · 28/10/2026 12:28

I meant I’d open the door to the shed and cook in there out of the weather - staying beside it all the time as I’ve seen these stoves go up when not attended before.

I wouldn’t advocate indoor use, especially in winter, due to potential build up of carbon monoxide, particularly when bad weather and power cuts mean you’re likely to be keeping windows closed and minimising ventilation to save what heat you can make.

We have a six ring LPG (the same as in camping gas canisters) gas cooker we use indoors every day with the windows shut. The CO alarm never shifts off zero.

That said, I would definitely recommend having a CO alarm in any room where a combustion appliance is being used. Including camping stoves. Bedrooms too.

Applestroodle · 28/10/2026 12:40

Applestroodle · 28/10/2026 12:36

We have a six ring LPG (the same as in camping gas canisters) gas cooker we use indoors every day with the windows shut. The CO alarm never shifts off zero.

That said, I would definitely recommend having a CO alarm in any room where a combustion appliance is being used. Including camping stoves. Bedrooms too.

By way of warning, DH did an experiment with a small charcoal BBQ by bringing it inside lit. The CO alarm went off after about three minutes.

bettyrubble99 · 28/10/2026 18:53

Tinned chilli, curry things like that. Husbands got 2 camping stoves that run on little gas cylinders so we can heat them up, boil water etc.
I try not to buy in to it but it's bloody scaring me if i'm honest.
Edited to say we have a garage so if we use it, it will be used in there not in the house.