Household emergency supplies: the basics

In a major emergency – a long power cut, a severe storm or a flood – rescue services and authorities cannot be everywhere at once. Shops close because tills, refrigeration and deliveries do not work, and tap water may fail or temporarily be unsafe to drink. A stock means your household does not have to go out to get things during this time. That is safer for you and relieves the helpers, who can then look after people who urgently need help.

National agencies say how big the stock should be. Germany's Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) recommends a stock for ten days and works with around two litres of fluid per person per day. Ready.gov in the USA gives one gallon, about 3.8 litres, of water per person per day for several days – that already includes water for hygiene. Other countries use other figures. What counts is always the recommendation of the agency in your own country.

The best stock is made of things your household knows and likes. In a crisis it helps nobody to have tins in the cupboard that nobody wants to eat. Good choices are foods that can be eaten without cooking and without a fridge: tinned food, ready meals in jars, nuts, crispbread, dried fruit, muesli. A can opener that works without power is a must.

The easiest way to store water is bought bottled water. If you fill water yourself, use only clean, food-grade containers, keep them cool and dark, and renew the water regularly. Besides drinking water, plan water for brushing teeth, washing hands and doing dishes. If the toilet cannot be flushed, sturdy rubbish bags help as a makeshift solution.

Think of every person and animal in the household: babies need their usual food and nappies, people with allergies or special diets need suitable food, pets need their food. Add light (a headlamp or torch with spare batteries), a battery or wind-up radio, a first-aid kit, hygiene items and some cash, because card payments often do not work without power.

The biggest danger in a power cut is not hunger but unsafe cooking and heating. Camping stoves, gas cartridges, charcoal grills and generators produce carbon monoxide. This gas has no colour and no smell and can quickly become life-threatening in enclosed spaces. So never use such devices in the home, basement, garage or tent. Anyone who gets a headache, dizziness or nausea while such a device is running must get into fresh air at once, and someone calls the local emergency number (112 in the EU).

Medication is a topic of its own. How much prescription medication it makes sense to keep in stock is something to discuss with your doctor or pharmacy. Medication that has to be kept cold needs its own solution for a power cut – that, too, is best clarified there. Keep medication out of children's reach, including in the emergency stock.

Nobody has to buy everything at once. The most relaxed way is to take one or two extra items with every shop. After a few weeks the stock is there without it being expensive or hectic. A list helps, for example the BBK checklist, on which you tick off what you already have.

So that nothing goes off, the rule is “new to the back, old to the front”. Whatever expires first is eaten first and then replaced. Set fixed dates for checking expiry dates, batteries and water – for example when the clocks change in spring and autumn. That way the stock never turns into a forgotten store full of expired items.

Little space is no obstacle. Spread the stock over several places: cupboard floors, under the bed, behind books. A cool, dry, dark place is ideal; right next to a radiator or in full sun, food and water deteriorate faster.

A stock is not the same as hoarding. Hoarding happens in a panic once a crisis has already arrived – then shelves empty quickly and others get nothing. A stock, by contrast, is built up calmly long before anything happens. If many households have prepared, fewer people need to shop at the same time in a crisis, and shortages are smaller.

A stock does not only help in disasters, by the way. It is also handy when the whole family is ill in bed, when snow blocks the roads or when you simply cannot leave the house for a few days. Many people only then notice how reassuring it is not to have to go shopping straight away.