Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 23 October 2026 · next check 18 December 2026 · how we picked
The short answer
The UK government launched its Be Ready campaign on 22 October 2026. It asks households to be ready for three days of disruption, with bottled water at 3 litres per person per day for drinking, food that needs no fridge or cooking, a torch, a battery or wind-up radio, a power bank, a first aid kit and a few other basics.
We read six pre-made emergency kits sold on Amazon UK on 23 October 2026 against that list. None of the kits that state their quantities meets the water guidance:
- The two Blue Seventy-Two "72-hour" kits for one person (£71.85 and £118.23) each hold 5 pouches of about 120ml: 0.6 litres, or 6.7% of the 9 litres Be Ready asks for. Their food bars give 2,400 calories for three days, 40% of a 6,000-calorie reference.
- The EVAQ8 72-Hour Emergency Survival Food Box (£18.00) holds 500ml of water (5.6% of 9 litres) and 2,400 calories, plus 10 purification tablets.
- Neither Blue Seventy-Two kit includes a radio or a power bank, both on the Be Ready list.
Building the kit yourself costs less. Our budget basket, priced at Sainsbury's, Argos and Amazon on 23 October 2026, covers every priced item on the Be Ready list for one person for £57.88, including 12 litres of water for £3.00 and 6,986 calories of no-cook food for £7.18. Full workings are in the UK Be Ready Kit Cost Index.
What Be Ready actually asks for
From the Be Ready checklist (beready.campaign.gov.uk, read 23 October 2026):
| Be Ready item | What the checklist says |
|---|---|
| Water | Bottled water, 3 litres per person per day for drinking, plus extra for cooking and washing |
| Food | Non-perishable food that needs no refrigeration or cooking, ideally food you normally eat |
| Hygiene | Hand sanitiser, wet wipes and bathroom products |
| Light | A torch with spare batteries (torches are safer than candles) |
| Warmth | Blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothing |
| Radio | A battery or wind-up FM radio, with station frequencies written down |
| Power | A charged power bank for phones or medical devices |
| Money and documents | Cash in coins and notes, printed copies of documents, a written contacts and medication list |
| Medical | A first aid kit and essential medication |
| Babies and pets | Ready-to-feed formula, nappies and wipes; pet food and water |
It also says: write down the power cut number (105 in England, Scotland and Wales; 03457 643643 in Northern Ireland), sign up to the Priority Services Register if eligible, build supplies up gradually rather than buying in bulk, and check the kit every six months.
The kits, checked
| Kit (Amazon UK, read 23 Oct 2026) | Price | People | Water stated | Share of Be Ready water | Food stated | Share of 6,000kcal per person | Radio | Power bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Seventy-Two Pro Series, 1 person | £118.23 | 1 | 5 x 120ml (0.6L) | 6.7% | 2,400 cal | 40% | No | No |
| Blue Seventy-Two, 1 person | £71.85 | 1 | 5 x 4.22oz (about 0.6L) | 6.7% | 2,400 cal | 40% | No | No |
| EVAQ8 72-Hour Survival Food Box, 1 person | £18.00 | 1 | 500ml | 5.6% | 2,400kcal | 40% | No | No |
| Emergency Zone 4 Person Urban Survival 72 Hours | £434.35 | 4 | Not stated in listing bullets | Unknown | Not stated | Unknown | Not checked | Not checked |
| Sirius Survival pre-packed kit for 2 | £397.71 | 2 | Not stated | Unknown | "based on food rations" | Unknown | Not checked | Not checked |
| Survival & First Aid Kit, 15 tools + 60 supplies | £69.99 | Not stated | None (filter straw) | 0% | None | 0% | No | No |
Working: 3 litres × 3 days = 9 litres per person. 0.6 ÷ 9 = 6.7%. 0.5 ÷ 9 = 5.6%. The 6,000-calorie figure is the 2,000kcal adult reference intake printed on UK food labels, multiplied by three days.
Two more things stood out:
- Several kits are written for the US. The Blue Seventy-Two listing cites "the American Red Cross" and lists hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes. The Emergency Zone kit says its rations are "approved by the US Coast Guard".
- One kit sells "self-defense" as a feature. The Sirius Survival listing says its contents cover "shelter, sustenance, self-defense, first aid". None of that is on the Be Ready list.
Pre-made or DIY: the numbers
| Blue Seventy-Two, 1 person (Amazon) | Be Ready budget kit, 1 person (DIY) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price, 23 Oct 2026 | £71.85 | £57.88 |
| Water | 0.6 litres | 12 litres (Sainsbury's 6 x 2L, £3.00) |
| Food | 2,400 calories of bars | 6,986kcal of supermarket food (£7.18) |
| Torch | Crank torch | Energizer 90 lumen metal torch (Argos, £9.99) plus 4 AA batteries (£3.70) |
| Radio | None | Bush FM pocket radio (Argos, £9.99) |
| Power bank | None | Juice 5000mAh (Argos, £14.99) |
| First aid | 36 pieces | General Medi 92-piece mini kit (Amazon, £7.22) |
| Hygiene | Tissue pack | Hand sanitiser £1.25, wet wipes £0.56 (Sainsbury's) |
The DIY kit is £13.97 cheaper and carries 20 times the water. A pre-made kit can still make sense as a car or office grab bag, where space and weight matter more than three days of supplies. For the home, build it yourself.
How to build a Be Ready kit for one person
- Water: 9 litres. The cheapest way we found was a Sainsbury's 6 x 2 litre pack at £3.00 (12 litres). Households of four need 36 litres. See our water storage guide.
- Food: three days you would eat anyway. Our seven-line Sainsbury's basket gives 6,986kcal for £7.18. See our no-cook emergency food guide.
- Light: a torch and spare batteries. A lantern lights a room for longer per pound; see our power cut lanterns guide.
- Radio: a £9.99 battery FM radio from Argos meets the checklist. Wind-up radios add a crank and a small power bank; see our wind-up radio guide.
- Power bank: charged, and recharged every few months.
- First aid kit and a written medication list.
- The free bits: cash, printed copies of documents, written numbers including 105, and Priority Services Register sign-up.
Questions people ask
How much water should I store for an emergency in the UK? Be Ready says 3 litres per person per day for drinking, for three days: 9 litres each, plus extra for cooking and washing.
What food should go in an emergency kit? Be Ready says non-perishable food that needs no fridge or cooking, ideally food you normally eat.
Are 72-hour survival kits worth it? The ones we read hold well under a litre of water and 2,400 calories for three days. Check the quantities against the Be Ready list before buying.
Do I need a wind-up radio? Be Ready asks for a battery or wind-up FM radio. A battery radio with spare batteries meets the guidance.
Sources
- Be Ready: be ready for emergencies (GOV.UK campaign), read 23 October 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Cabinet Office: Households encouraged to take small, simple steps to stay prepared in an emergency, 22 October 2026.
- Amazon UK product listings for the six kits, read 23 October 2026 (URLs in the source register).
- Sainsbury's, Argos and Amazon listings for the DIY kit, read 23 October 2026.
What this guide could not check
- Full contents of the Emergency Zone and Sirius Survival kits; their listing bullets do not state water or food quantities.
- Expiry dates on any kit; listings state shelf lives, not manufacture dates.
- Whether kit components work; we handled none of them.
- The Be Ready checklist PDF; we read the web checklist page.