Try the menu before you need it
A useful emergency meal is one you can open, serve and eat safely. Try a no-cook lunch on a normal day and note what is missing: a tin opener, spoons, drinking water or something your children will eat.
Mix and match
- Crackers with ready-to-eat tinned fish or beans.
- Ready-to-eat lentils or chickpeas with tinned vegetables.
- Cereal with a small carton of long-life milk.
- Fruit pots, suitable nut butter and familiar snacks.
Read each label. Some pouch meals and tinned products require heating. Once opened, foods may need chilling; choose portions you can finish at one sitting when refrigeration is unavailable.
Keep preparation simple
Keep plates, cutlery, bin bags and hand-cleaning supplies together. Plan for allergies, swallowing difficulties and other individual requirements. Do not assume bottled water and an improvised heat source are suitable for preparing infant formula.
Avoid indoor combustion
Never bring a barbecue or generator indoors. Fuel-burning camping equipment can create carbon monoxide and fire risks. A ready-to-eat menu avoids needing to improvise a cooking arrangement during an outage.
Food Standards Agency: food safety in a power cut ↗
Check the linked guidance for updates. Follow local instructions during a real incident. This site does not provide live emergency information.