UK to warn citizens to stock up on food

[TheNoonBell]

As there is already a thread on chat I thought I would link it here as it will drop off the other board.

Original thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5570978-hm-gov-telling-us-to-get-tinned-food-and-bottled-water

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/25/uk-to-warn-citizens-to-stock-up-on-food-amid-threat-from-climate-crisis-and-hostile-states

Time to get in the winter supplies now before the candles and lanterns sell out. Very impressed with the new USBC Blukar battery lanterns after testing them this summer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blukar-Camping-Rechargeable-Lantern-Essentials/dp/B0GVNKNM6C

Thank you for this - honestly I had no idea. We know how everyone panics so a reminder to always be slightly prepared

I have always had a small supply of extra cans/toilet rolls/amount of water. But probably not enough to last more than a week so I will enlarge on this.

Never had a lantern before but this is going on my list. Had a few small power cuts last winter but can see this ramping up to being a bigger issue this winter. It is an faff messing about with candles and torches and they don’t really give off much light. Also will invest in more water as this is becoming a potentially bigger problem.

Those lanterns I posted last about 18 hours on full power and much more on half power. You could also consider a few glowsticks as they are pretty cheap for a box. I keep candles/tea lights as those can help heat the room a bit in a winter powercut.

Might be worth investing in some thermal leggings and tops as when the electric goes out your gas boiler won't work.

I am crap at remembering to charge things up so i am guessing a rechargable lantern isnt the best plan? Although we just bought a generator so maybe i dont need to worry about lighting so much?

You could pair the generator with a camping battery so you don't need to run the genie 24x7. You could then charge devices off the battery as required.

A noisy generator running overnight will probably get you some unwelcome visitors and you might wake up to find it has been nicked.

Sounds like a good plan. Any recommendations for batteries?

That depends what you want to run off it, if it is just for charging phones/lamps etc then a smaller one (under 1KWH) but if you want to run a freezer you might want a bigger one. Plenty of good ones on Amazon.

We have a few, an old small but easily portable Allpower, a 1000WH Vitoman and a similar sized Jackery one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=camping+battery

Edit: we also have a 2KW petrol generator and solar panels for the camping batteries.

It's just a general warning about droughts, hackers, potential attacks. I don't think we should be emptying supermarket shelves just yet. It's always sensible to have some food in for any eventuality though. I still have my oil lamps from the three day weeks in the 70s, no charging required.

For anyone interested, this is the Prepared For A Crisis booklet that is being distributed in Germany. Nov.2025 edition in English: https://www.bbk.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Mediathek/Publikationen/ratgeber-englisch_download.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=10

Even if folk really don't see the value in having some stock in case of disruptions, it's worth buying a couple of extras of things you like just to get ahead of the next wave of price rises.

I've noticed this past few days some items jumping up by 15/20p again so no doubt will be higher still by the time winter arrives.

How do you store water? There are 5 adults in my house and it says you need at least 42 litres per person to have enough for 2 weeks. Where would I store that much water?!

that information from Germany is amazing.
i had a colleague who had a ready bag

I always think that prepping is a luxury...1) having the money to buy extras and 2) having the space to store these things. I know I do not have either!

It's a challenge! I have water bottles stashed in several places. You could have some in outdoor buildings as well I think, I may use the shed to house some over autumn/winter, but I always keep the newest drinking water indoors. Just stash them in spaces between objects if you can! I'm sure others here will have suggestions.

Today I'm going to read that excellent German booklet posted above and check all my supplies again, particularly the medical/first aid as I haven't done that in awhile.

Storing water:

Store some drinking water in bottles in a dark place. (Under bed, bottom of wardrobe, under stairs etc)

Store water purification tablets. (Cheap and small)

Know how to purify water (filtering and boiling,
Evaporation and condensation)

Have the means to boil water. (Camp stove, Kelly kettle etc)

Have a means of collecting rain water. (Fresh and stored if space)

Keep a reasonable amount of the drinks you usually drink and use on rotation. (Pop, fruit juice, soya milk etc)

This is how I store water.

What do we have to stock up for.

I was just wondering this myself.
Ive never stocked up on anything in my life (except when I used to buy 3 terrys chocolate oranges before Christmas. For myself).

It is a must to stock pile terry chocolate orange no matter what time of year it is..

On the water, don’t forget that some of it is intended for washing etc so doesn’t need to be drinking quality. So a decent rainwater butt in the garden can be really helpful for flushing toilets and even for washing dishes/people if properly clean and heated to boiling (and then cooled to usable temp) before use.

I have a solar shower for camping that can be really good to heat water in any decent sunshine - you could leave it on the inside of a sunny windowledge in winter and it would certainly at least take the chill off and get to comfortable, even if not roasting hot like in summer.

And here is the Swedish one. Great check list!

rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf

Adding the Finnish version too which I've found helpful previously. I like the framing of 'could you manage for 72 hours alone' rather than an unsettling prep for nukes/zombies incoming, which hopefully even the prep-sceptics could get on board with.

72tuntia.fi/en/

5l jugs of water from the supermarket, stored in the cupboard under the stairs. I think having 3 days is enough for most eventualities.

The German leaflet says 2.5l per person per day, so a jug is 2 days of water.

@Yellowundermarine You're right that it is harder if you're short on space or money, but there are some things you can do.

Can you manage 50p a week spare or £1 - for 50p you can get a can of beans or chickpeas, a pack of pasta or passata or rice, couscous, noodles - over 3 months that will add up. Water - do you have anything you can store tap water in? Used water bottles or even jars (sterilise with boiling water for jars).

Something is better than nothing - so aim for 3 days/ 9 meals.

I think the idea is that if at least some people are okay for supplies, those who are in need can be focused on.

Also important to remember pet food and medications

I don't have that much but I have a lot of 7 litre bottles of water in my garage. I have milk in freezer too and coffee whitener.