What this is

In October 2026 the UK government, through the Prime Minister and its Be Ready campaign, asked every household to be able to cope on its own for three days. The official checklist is good and short. What it does not do is answer the questions people actually have: how many bottles is nine litres, which torch, what do I do when the power actually goes, how do I do this on a budget, what about the baby. Steady On answers those, calmly, in plain English, for the UK.

What it is not

It is not a prepping site. There is no survival gear, no fear, and no suggestion that society is about to end. The government's guidance is deliberately modest and we keep it that way. If you want a bunker, there are other websites. If you want a well-stocked cupboard, a plan on the fridge and a street that talks to each other, you are in the right place.

How we work

  • Official sources first. Quantities, numbers and procedures come from the UK government's Be Ready guidance, the Met Office, the Environment Agency and its equivalents, the NHS, Ofgem, the fire and rescue services and the water and energy networks. We link to them so you can check.
  • UK specific. UK phone numbers, UK agencies, UK prices, UK weather. Advice written for American tornadoes does not help in a Cornish power cut.
  • Plain English. If a sentence could be shorter, it is.
  • Nothing you would not use. Every item we mention is in the official guidance or is an obvious, cheap way of meeting it.
  • Kept current. Guidance changes; we update pages and date them. If you spot something out of date, tell us.

Steady On is free to read and has no advertising, and at the moment it earns nothing: every link to a retailer is a plain link. The plan is to join the retailers' affiliate schemes, so that if you buy something after clicking a link we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and this page and the pages concerned will say so clearly when that happens. We do not sell products ourselves, we only list types of item that appear in the government's own guidance, we describe what to look for rather than pushing brands, and a cheaper version is always fine by us.

We also run a six-month reminder email. It is free and it is the only email we send.

Independence

Steady On is not affiliated with HM Government, the BBC, any emergency service, utility or retailer. We summarise public guidance; the official versions are always the ones to follow, and in immediate danger you call 999, not a website.

Press and embedding

Journalists will find the key figures, ready-made quotes and images on the press page. Journalists, councils, schools and community groups are welcome to quote the guides with a link, and to print the printables freely. If you would like to embed the kit calculator on your own site, or want a comment on preparedness, get in touch.