Households told to keep three days of food and water in new government guidance

The government has told households across the UK to be ready to look after themselves for up to three days if essential services go down.

The guidance was published on Thursday 22 October together with a statement from Security Minister Dan Jarvis. It says families should keep bottled water, food that needs no cooking, a torch, a radio, spare batteries and some cash at home.

The idea is that people can manage on their own for three days if there is a power cut, if the water supply is interrupted, or if phone and internet networks stop working.

What households are being asked to keep

The list is short and practical. Bottled water comes first, followed by food that can be eaten without cooking, so that a household can still eat if gas or electricity is cut off.

A torch and spare batteries are recommended for power cuts. A battery or wind-up radio lets people follow official updates if mobile networks and broadband are down. Some cash is advised because card machines and cash points may not work during a wider outage.

The government's general emergency advice also tells people to think about what else their own household might need for three days, such as prescription medicines, baby supplies, pet food and phone chargers or power banks.

Why now

Ministers say the advice is mainly about extreme weather, pointing to the storms and wildfires the UK has had over the past year.

The guidance also comes as concern grows about hybrid attacks linked to Russia and cyber threats to national infrastructure, and many people have asked why it has been issued now. Wes Streeting said he wanted people to be "alert but not alarmed".

West London has already had a taste of how quickly one failure can spread. In March 2025 a fire at the North Hyde electricity substation in Hayes cut power to thousands of homes and businesses and shut Heathrow for most of a day, leaving many flights cancelled.

Concerns over cost and panic buying

Retailers have warned that panic buying is "quite easy to generate". Many people will remember the empty shelves at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The government has not told people to rush out and stock up. The guidance is about having a few basic items at home that can be built up over time.

For many families in Southall, Hayes and across West London, money is the bigger worry. With food and energy bills still high, putting aside three days of extra food and water on top of the weekly shop is easier said than done, especially for larger households and people on low incomes.

Advice on how to prepare for emergencies, including power cuts, flooding and severe weather, is on the government's website at gov.uk/prepare. People can also sign up for flood warnings from the Environment Agency and check their energy network operator's power cut advice. A power cut can be reported by calling 105, a free number that works across Great Britain.