The British government has urged citizens to stock up on food and water

The Guardian writes about this.

The initiative, developed by the UK Cabinet Office, aims to encourage households to stock up on enough food for 72 hours. The campaign comes amid growing concerns about the climate crisis, society’s dependence on digital technology and threats from hostile states.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis urged citizens who are able to do so to follow the recommendations.

According to him, these are simple measures that will help prepare for domestic emergencies. These steps are part of a broader government strategy to strengthen the resilience of the country and local communities.

Defense Minister Wes Streeting, for his part, stressed that the United Kingdom must prepare for threats from Russia and other hostile states, including so-called state terrorism directed against everyday infrastructure.

“Terms like ‘hybrid warfare’ and ‘gray zone threats’ do not accurately reflect and explain to the general public what I prefer to call ‘state-sponsored terrorism,’” he said.

Streeting stressed that these threats are not hypothetical and are increasingly occurring directly in the UK. Therefore, according to him, the country needs to pay more attention not only to defense, but also to society’s preparedness for crisis situations.

The Minister also urged households and businesses to assess their own preparedness for possible disruptions and determine in advance how to act in the event of an emergency.

What is recommended to keep at home?

The UK government recommends that everyone should have at least three litres of drinking water per day. This means that you need to have nine litres ready for three days. You will need extra water for cooking and washing.

Citizens are also advised to prepare food supplies in advance, including canned food, blankets, cash, a first aid kit, a flashlight with spare batteries, and an FM radio with a hand-held generator.

Back in August, the government announced its intention to recommend that the population stock up on canned food. The new Be Ready campaign includes more specific instructions on preparing for possible crises.

The initiative will be further promoted through social media and radio. The government believes that a three-day supply is a practical and realistic solution for most households.

The UK will thus join France, Ireland and the Netherlands, where citizens are already advised to prepare for serious disruptions to normal life.

Why Britons are being urged to prepare for emergencies

The campaign is being launched ahead of the winter storm season. The country has been hit by several severe storms in recent years. In particular, Storm Goretti in January left tens of thousands of homes without power in central England, the south-west and Wales, with winds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour.

Additional concerns are the possible consequences of the “super El Niño” climate phenomenon. According to climate scientists, it could make 2027 the hottest year on record, as well as cause unpredictable weather events that would affect global food supplies and energy systems.

Another risk factor is cyberattacks. Recently, 32 UK government websites were temporarily disabled as a precautionary measure after a vulnerability was discovered in the PHP programming language, which is used by millions of websites worldwide.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has issued 50,000 warnings to organisations that may have been affected by the issue, in a further demonstration of how dependent modern society is on the internet and other critical technologies.

In April 2025, a massive blackout occurred in Spain and Portugal. A cascading failure caused by voltage instability in the power grid left millions of people without power for several hours. The outage affected an estimated 55 million people and was the largest such incident in Europe in decades.

Streeting also stressed the need to prepare for hybrid attacks and sabotage that do not necessarily lead to open armed conflict. For example, cyberattacks can paralyze payment systems of enterprises or disrupt supply chains of goods.

The British government is paying particular attention to protecting its underwater infrastructure. The Royal Navy has tracked Russian reconnaissance ships monitoring underwater pipelines and cables connecting the country to mainland Europe and beyond, raising concerns that such facilities could be targeted, although such a scenario would mean a significant escalation by Moscow.

European states are increasingly warning of the risks of sabotage by hostile countries, primarily Russia. Such actions can disrupt critical infrastructure and pose an immediate threat to people. Examples include the discovery of an explosive-laden drone near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Airport in Germany in August, as well as a series of explosions and fires at defense facilities.

At the same time, large-scale information campaigns to prepare the population for crisis situations are unusual for the UK. According to The Guardian, governments of both major parties have previously feared that such initiatives could be perceived as panic-mongering.

One of the most famous examples is the Protect and Survive campaign, which was carried out in 1980. At that time, the British were explained how to prepare for a nuclear war, including being advised to equip a home bomb shelter and stock up on food for 14 days.

In early 2026, Greenland authorities also urged residents to prepare for emergency scenarios, including possible military intervention, and to stockpile water and food in advance.

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