"This is prepper stuff."
The government's list is water, tins, a torch, a radio, a first aid kit and some cash. Every item is sold in a supermarket. There is no bunker, no weapon, no freeze-dried pallet. Preppers plan for the collapse of society; this plans for Tuesday's power cut. The word for keeping a torch and some water in the house is not "prepping". It is "having a torch and some water in the house".
"Nothing like that happens here."
Power cuts affect hundreds of thousands of UK homes every winter. Storms are named most years. One in six homes in England has some flood risk. Cyber attacks emptied supermarket shelves in 2025. Water companies issue boil notices every year. None of these are exotic; all of them are the thing the kit is for.
"I'll just buy it when I need it."
So will everyone else, at the same moment, from shops that have no power, no card payments and no stock. Every panic-buying episode, from fuel in 2021 to toilet roll in 2020, is a thousand people deciding to buy it when they need it. The kit exists so you are not one of them.
"It costs too much."
A complete three-day kit for a family costs £40 to £80, and half of it is already in the house. Spread over five weekly shops, it is a few pounds a week. The budget guide has a £20 version. The genuinely important parts, the plan and the phone numbers and the register, are free.
"I've got a phone."
Which lasts a day without charging, uses a network whose masts have a few hours of battery, and is useless when everyone in the area is on it at once. A wind-up radio costs £20, runs forever and never congests. Keep the phone too; the communication guide explains how to make it last.
"The government will sort it out."
The emergency services and utilities will, and in a big event they will spend the first days reaching people who cannot help themselves. Three days of looking after yourself is how you stay out of that queue and leave them free to reach the person on oxygen down the road. The government is asking you to do this precisely so that it can do its job.
"Food will just go off and be wasted."
Only if you buy things you do not eat. The guidance says to choose foods you normally eat and build the kit from your usual shopping. Oldest tin to the front of the cupboard, new one to the back. Nothing expires; the kit is just the back of the cupboard, kept slightly fuller.
"I live in a flat; there's no room."
Three days of water and food for two people fits in a box the size of a crate of beer. Under the bed, bottom of a wardrobe, top of a kitchen cupboard. If you have room for a vacuum cleaner you have room for the kit. Flats also lose power, water and lifts in exactly the same events.
"It's scaremongering."
Sweden has sent every household a preparedness booklet since 2018. The EU asked every citizen to hold 72 hours of supplies in 2025. Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Ireland have had the same guidance for years. The UK is late to a very calm party. See why three days.
"I did it once; I'm sorted."
Power banks go flat in storage, batteries fail, children grow, medications change, insurance renews. A kit from three years ago is a box of good intentions. The six-month check takes ten minutes and the clocks changing is the reminder.
The boring truth
Being prepared, in the UK sense, is a shelf, a plan on the fridge, and a conversation with the people next door. It is roughly as exciting as having a spare tyre and about as expensive. The only thing that makes it feel strange is that most people have not done it yet. Start with the checklist; it takes an evening.