September: the starter kit in two orders
I did this the way I tell you not to: two big Amazon orders in one week rather than one item a week. In my defence, I'd been putting it off for a year. About £300 all in for the hardware, before food and water.
Light, power and news
- Wind-up AM/FM radio with a 12,000 mAh battery and torch I went for the one that doubles as a power bank. Loud, simple, and charges a phone at a push. Keep it on the kitchen shelf, not in a drawer.Mesqool wind-up AM/FM radio, 12,000 mAh in my kit ad
- Anker Zolo 20,000 mAh power bank Built-in cable, so there's nothing to lose. Charged on the first of the month.Anker Zolo 20,000 mAh in my kit ad
- Rechargeable head torches, pack of two One by the bed, one in the kit box. Hands free for the stairs.Lepro rechargeable head torch ×2 in my kit ad
- Solar / hand-crank / USB lantern Sits in the middle of the living-room floor on a power-cut evening. Cheap, fine.Solar / hand-crank / USB camping lantern in my kit ad
Water
- 12 L water container with tap I chose 12 L over 25 L because 12 L is easy to carry full. Two of these beat one big one you can't lift.Starnearby 12 L water container with tap in my kit ad
- Aquatabs, 50 tablets Enough to treat 50 litres. Lives in the kit box with the LifeStraw.Aquatabs ×50 in my kit ad
- LifeStraw personal filter Covers what the tablets don't (parasites). Together they cover bacteria, viruses and parasites.LifeStraw personal water filter in my kit ad
- WaterBOB bath bladder Holds up to 100 US gallons (about 380 litres). A full bath is nearer 80 litres, so you won't fill it. Unopened, under the bath, for if a warning comes in. The one item here I hope never to use.WaterBOB bath bladder in my kit ad
Cooking, first aid, odds and ends
- Portable camping stove with four butane cartridges Came in a case with the gas. Lives under the stairs. Window open, CO alarm fitted, never in a sealed room.GREEN HAVEN camping stove + 4 butane in my kit ad
- 210-piece first aid kit Bigger than I needed; the foil blanket and cold pack inside were the useful surprise.General Medi 210-piece first aid kit in my kit ad
- All-weather repair tape For a cracked window or a flapping fence panel in a storm.OB1 all-weather repair tape in my kit ad
- A book on preparing for a grid-down situation American, and about a third of it applies here. Still the clearest explanation of what fails in which order.Prepare Your Home for a Sudden Grid-Down Situation (book) in my kit ad
October: the grab bags and the second wave
After the Be Ready launch I went back for the things the September orders missed. This is what's in the basket now; the Jackery is parked in "save for later" while I wait for solar quotes, because a home battery beats a portable one if you're spending that much.
Grab bags
- 45 L tactical rucksack Mine. Yes, it's red, and yes, it says "bug out bag" in the listing. It is also the right size and has a bottle holder.QT&QY 45 L tactical grab bag ad
- 25 L small rucksack Light enough to carry down a flooded street.QT&QY 25 L small grab bag ad
- Fireproof, waterproof document bag Passports, birth certificates, the medicine sheet. Goes in my bag.JUNDUN fireproof, waterproof document bag ad
- Fireproof document box with lock For the originals that stay at home.JUNDUN fireproof document box with lock ad
- Long-life emergency biscuits and compressed energy bars Grab-bag food only. Five-year shelf life, never rotated, never eaten unless I have to.Emergency high-energy biscuits (long shelf life) ad PEAK4RATION compressed energy bars ad
- Glow sticks Cheap, safe light for the grab bags that needs no flame or batteries.Emergency glow sticks (6) ad
More light, and storage
- More head torches and USB lanterns One torch per person is the rule, and I'd been short.Blukar rechargeable head torch ×2 ad flintronic USB lantern ×2 ad
- Really Useful Box, 48 L The kit box under the stairs. See-through and stackable, and mice can't chew through it.Really Useful Box 48 L ad
- 3-way extension with USB sockets, cable straps So the power bank and the radio can charge off one socket when the power comes back for an hour.3-way extension with 2 USB ad Reusable silicone cable straps ad
- A paper road atlas Sat-nav dies with the phone. 2027 edition.Philip's 2027 road atlas ad
The food that goes through the normal shop
- Heinz baked beans ×12 Already bought and already half eaten, which is how a larder should work.Heinz baked beans 12 × 415 g in my kit ad
- Mutti chopped and whole tomatoes ×12 each Branded because I like them; own-brand is the same food for half the money.Mutti chopped tomatoes ×12 ad Mutti organic peeled tomatoes ×12 ad
- Strong bread flour, brown basmati 3 kg Decanted into airtight tubs on arrival. Flour goes in the freezer for 48 hours first.Doves Farm strong white bread flour ad Wholefood Earth brown basmati 3 kg ad
- Wet dog food, 18 pouches The dog's month. Rotated like everything else.Naturediet wet dog food 18 × 390 g ad
Parked, deliberately
A solar generator with a 100 W panel sits in my "save for later" at about £570. If you're medically dependent on power it's a reasonable buy. For a normal household it's the wrong order: get your water and a radio sorted first, then ask an installer about solar plus a home battery, which does the same job every day of the year rather than only in a crisis.
Jackery Solar Generator 1000 v2 + 100 W panel ad
If I were starting again
- One item a week with the shop, not two big orders. The site's 11-week plan exists because I did it the expensive way.
- Water first. I bought the radio before I'd bought a single bottle of water, which is exactly backwards.
- Twelve-litre containers, not twenty-five, if anyone in your house would struggle to lift 25 kg.
- The thing I'm gladdest I bought: the head torches. The thing I'd skip: the 210-piece first aid kit; a 90-piece one and a separate box of the medicines you use would have been better.