The checklist
The UK household preparedness checklist, and what it asks of you
KITHELD carries twenty-four requirements across ten categories, based on UK Government preparedness guidance. The ten below are the ones worth sorting first. The amounts shown are for a household of two adults and one child, and the app works them out for yours.
This is not the official list and is not endorsed by the government. For official advice, read the Government’s own preparedness pages alongside this one.
Ten things worth sorting first
Drinking water
Three litres a person a day, for three days. Bottled is simplest, and it needs to be somewhere you can carry it from.
27 litres
Ready-to-eat food
Tins and packets that need no cooking, no water and no fridge. Count meals, not shelves.
18 each
Tin or bottle opener
The cheapest thing on the list and the easiest to be caught without. A manual one, kept with the food.
1 each
Torch
One you can find in the dark. A wind-up torch avoids the battery question altogether.
2 each
Spare batteries
In the sizes your torch and radio actually take, checked once a year for leaks.
8 each
Battery or wind-up radio
How you hear official advice when the mobile network is busy or the power is off.
1 each
First aid kit
Plasters, dressings, tape, gloves and scissors, with a date on the box so it can be checked.
1 each
Regular medication
A few days spare of anything the household takes daily, plus a spare inhaler if that applies. Expiry dates matter most here.
2 each
Copies of important documents
Insurance, prescriptions, passports, a list of useful phone numbers. Paper copies are the point.
1 each
Grab bag
Something to carry it all in if you have to leave. One bag, by the door, with the small things already inside.
1 each
Marks show coverage, not a score. A dashed circle means nothing is recorded against that requirement yet. Amounts are suggestions only. Nothing to buy here.
Work out your amounts
Adults
2
Children
1
Drinking water
27 litres
Ready-to-eat food
18 each
Three days at three litres a person a day, and two meals a person a day. The app scales the other twenty-two requirements the same way, pets included.
The ten categories
Water
Food
Light and power
Communication and information
First aid, medication and health
Hygiene
Documents, money and keys
Warmth and clothing
Pets
Grab bag and kit storage
The remaining fourteen requirements, including a portable power bank, blankets, hand sanitiser, cash and pet supplies, are in the app with amounts for your household.
A checklist tells you what to get. It cannot tell you what you have.
Print this page and you will have the same problem as every other list: in six months you will not remember whether the batteries were bought, which shelf they went on, or when the tinned food runs out. That is the part KITHELD holds. You record what you own once, and the checklist keeps itself up to date against your household.
Related reading
What to put in an emergency kit in the UK
The ten essentials, with amounts.
How much water to store per person
Litres, bottles and where to keep them.
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