Calm, practical home readiness
Ready for power cuts, floods and storms, the calm way.
Turn official UK advice into a plan for your home: what stops working in a power cut, who to call, and the few sensible things to keep in a cupboard.
Every figure from official UK advice, with its source and the date we checked it.
Your home in a power cut: household plan
Worked example
For 2 adults, 1 older person, 1 child, 1 pet, with a telecare alarm; gas boiler, electric cooker and a landline through the broadband router:
- Stops working: gas boiler (combi or system), electric or induction hob and oven, landline that plugs into your broadband router, broadband and wifi router, fridge and freezer, lights.
- First hour: 7 steps, starting "Check whether it's just your home: look at your fuse box for a tripped switch, and see if neighbours' lights are off too."
- Who to call: 105 (power cut helpline (great britain)), 999 (emergency services), 111 (nhs non-emergency help).
- Kit to keep: 14 items, with the everyday ones marked so you can check what you already have.
Source: National Grid, awaiting check; Power Cut 105, awaiting check; gov.uk Prepare, awaiting check; Ofcom, awaiting check; Food Standards Agency, awaiting check; Priority Services Register, awaiting check; British Red Cross, awaiting check; NHS, awaiting check
Plan for your home
- Backup power: which do I need?Tick what you'd want to keep going in a power cut. We'll tell you whether a power bank is likely to be enough, or whether to look at a portable power station on our sister site Ferncharge.
- No-cook emergency food plannerPlan food your household can eat without a cooker for the days gov.uk suggests, starting from what's already in your cupboard. A shopping list by type of food, not a pack to buy.
- Emergency water storage calculatorHow much water to keep for your household, using both gov.uk tiers: the minimum to drink, and a comfortable amount for drinking, cooking and washing. With the containers to store it in.
- Household emergency planFill in the details everyone at home would need in an emergency: who to call, where to meet and where the shut-offs are. Then print it on one page. It stays on your device.
- What stops working in a power cutTick what your home has, from the boiler to the landline, and see what stops in a power cut, what may keep going and what to do about each.
- Who to call in a power cutPick where you live and get the number to call, a link to find your local network operator, and where to report a cut or check for updates.
Guides
- Power cutsCalm, practical help for power cuts at home: what stops working, who to call, what to keep in the cupboard, and a free household plan to print.
- Water and foodHow much water and food to keep at home for emergencies, using official UK figures, with a water calculator and a no-cook food planner.
- Kits and plansA household emergency plan to print, plus home kit and grab bag checklists based on official UK advice. Start with what you already have.
Calm, not doomsday
We're not doomsday preppers; we turn official UK advice into a plan for your home. Your home is your bunker, and it just needs a few sensible things in a cupboard.