UK Government Launches Be Ready Drive for Three-Day Household Supplies

The UK government on Thursday launched a campaign urging residents to set aside three days' worth of food, water and medicine to prepare for emergencies.

The Be Ready website advises households to build supplies covering 72 hours. Ministers have issued similar guidance for several months, citing warnings about Russian "state-sponsored terrorism" and climate disruption.

Lawrence Barratt of Hythe, Hampshire, began buying extra tins and dried goods about two weeks ago after seeing the guidance online. His list includes beans, soups, chilli con carne, noodles and rice, plus bottled water, a first aid kit, a battery-powered FM radio and a torch. He said he wants enough for two people for three days. Memories of 2020, when shelves of pasta and toilet roll emptied during the first lockdown, factored into his decision.

Marco Camurri in Greenwich has gathered pasta, passata, stock cubes, tinned food, bottled water, medicines and toilet paper. He said his family started preparing a few months ago after reports of supply chain disruption linked to El Niño. Camurri keeps wood in his garden to boil water, keeps power banks charged, and maintains his vehicle fuel above 50 percent, about 300 miles of driving. The household tracks expiry dates in a spreadsheet for its "Doomsday Stash."

Jack Davenport of North Shields also cited El Niño but said it is "hard to judge the size" of the threats facing the country. He pointed to climate disasters, Russian shadow threats, artificial intelligence and interest rate rises driven by energy insecurity, and called the nation's physical and technological infrastructure "creaking and outdated." He suggested the government aims to "reduce long-term panic" by presenting such events as possible.

Not everyone agrees. Deirdre O'Sullivan of Leicester called the guidance "daft" and compared it to 1970s advice to hide under a table during a nuclear attack. She said the advice appears inadequate for a real emergency and would fail to warn people precisely about drinking water risk, adding that a severe food shortage would become apparent over a longer period. She compared the plan to something "Yes Minister would come up with to demonstrate that they have a policy in place, even if that policy is clearly totally useless."

Camurri said he keeps wood in his garden for a barbecue to boil water if the supply fails. He said his family could leave the UK temporarily if London faced direct attacks or if infrastructure failure put their jobs at risk, since his relatives live in continental Europe.