People should have an emergency stockpile of food in their homes in case conflicts, extreme weather or cyber-attacks shut down supplies, leading UK experts have told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
In an ever more turbulent world, they say it is essential to choose long-life items that can be eaten without cooking \u2013 think tinned beans, vegetables and fish, rice crackers, and oats that can be soaked. But it is also important to choose items you actually like to eat, and some treats such as chocolate or crisps to keep your spirits up. You will also need water \u2013 lots of it \u2013 not just to drink but for washing too.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most surprising advice is to be prepared to share your stockpile with neighbours. With one in seven households with children already suffering food insecurity<\/a> in the UK, many people cannot afford to build up a stockpile and, without food, civil unrest soon follows.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, do store food, but be prepared to share to maintain social solidarity,\u201d says Prof Tim Lang. \u201cAll resilience theory and experience, in shocks, wars, or sub-war conflicts, shows it is essential to maintain social cohesion if you want to maintain social order.\u201d<\/p>\n One shock could spark social unrest and even food riots<\/a> in the UK, according to a report from dozens of the country\u2019s top food experts, published in February. They said chronic issues like low incomes and fragile \u201cjust-in-time\u201d supply chains have left the food system a \u201ctinderbox\u201d. The Iran war, hitting vital fuel and fertiliser supplies to farmers, has added to the pressure.<\/p>\n Empty shelves in a shop in London during the pandemic. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth\/AP<\/p>\n Lang warned in early March that the British government should be stockpiling food<\/a> \u2013 unlike Switzerland and many others, it is not. A recently uncovered government report<\/a> from 2024 also warned that hits to the nation\u2019s food security from the climate crisis and geopolitical instability meant it could be \u201cat strategic risk of catastrophic failure\u201d by 2030. UK glasshouse growers have already warned of shortages of cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers<\/a> in supermarkets due to soaring gas prices.<\/p>\n Some countries take emergency home stockpiles of food very seriously \u2013 they add to the overall resilience of a society in a crisis. Switzerland\u2019s government provides a website<\/a> where you can put in the details of your family, food allergies, if you are vegetarian and even if you have pets and get a detailed list of the food required. A week\u2019s supply for a family of two adults and two children, for example, includes 20 tins of vegetables, seven packets of instant soup, salami, a kilogram of coffee and 47 1.5-litre bottles of water.<\/p>\n Quick GuideAn example of a week’s stockpile for a family of fourShow<\/p>\n For two adults and two children, all omnivorous, according to the Swiss guidelines<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Mineral water\u00a047x 1.5l bottles, for drinking and coking<\/p>\n \u2022 Other drinks\u00a05l of fruit and vegetable juices and soft drinks<\/p>\n \u2022 Tea about 300g<\/p>\n \u2022 Coffee 1kg<\/p>\n \u2022 Milk or milk alternative 5l\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Vegetables\u00a021x 300g portions of canned vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, peas or carrots<\/p>\n \u2022 Fruit\u00a017x 300g portions, for example apple sauce, canned pineapple or dried fruit<\/p>\n \u2022 Sauces\u00a07x 200g portions, eg pesto, tomato sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise or mustard<\/p>\n \u2022 Soups\u00a07x 200g portions, eg bouillon cubes, readymade soup or instant soup<\/p>\n \u2022 Grains\u00a010x 500g portions, eg pasta, rice, rice cakes, muesli or gluten-free alternatives<\/p>\n \u2022 Ready meals\u00a012x 250g portions, for example ready-made risotto or rosti\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Legumes\u00a014x 400g portions, eg chickpeas, beans in tomato sauce, canned or dried lentils<\/p>\n \u2022 Meat\u00a07x 100g portions, for example cured meat, salami or canned meatloaf\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Fish\u00a012x 100g portions, for example sardines or canned tuna<\/p>\n \u2022 Dairy\u00a03x 300g portions of hard cheese<\/p>\n \u2022 Nuts\u00a03x 200g portions, eg cashews, almonds or hazelnuts<\/p>\n \u2022 Oil\u00a01l, for example olive or rapeseed oil<\/p>\n \u2022 Spices and seasoning\u00a0eg salt, pepper, sugar, sweetener<\/p>\n \u2022 Snacks\u00a010x portions of sweet and salty snacks such as crisps or chocolate<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n Germany has a similar site<\/a>, while Latvia<\/a> and Lithuania<\/a> both distribute booklets to all citizens on how to survive for 72 hours in a crisis. Sweden also provides detailed advice in a booklet: \u201cYou need food that is filling, energy-rich, can be stored safely at room temperature [and] requires very little water or can be eaten immediately. Start building up your emergency storage by simply adding one or two additional items when doing your regular shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s food advice on its Prepare<\/a> website is, in contrast, minimal: one short sentence. Lang is blunt, calling the advice stupid: \u201cThe state ought to be protecting us more and be giving us specific advice.\u201d<\/p>\n Lang has a store of food himself. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be thinking, no cooking facilities, plus maybe no water, plus the internet has gone down, so you can\u2019t go and ask the web,\u201d he says. \u201cYou must think very carefully about what you wouldn\u2019t mind living off for a week or 10 days if things were really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy favourite meal is dal and we store beans in 24-36 big jars and we have lots of dried goods,\u201d he says. \u201cWe also have tins of sardines and other fish that would help you get through and we always have a lot of oats in \u2013 you can soak them and eat them raw. They\u2019re a great thing to have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a garden, you can keep some things growing,\u201d he says. Lang currently has two long rows of spinach and he says even herbs in a pot would be valuable in brightening up a meal: \u201cIf you\u2019ve got some chives growing, you\u2019ll titivate the beans that you\u2019re eating for the fourth, or 10th time in 10 days into tasting a bit different. Those things matter and they\u2019re actually also giving you micronutrients.\u201d<\/p>\n Long-life items that can be eaten without cooking \u2013 such as tinned products \u2013 are ideal for an emergency stockpile. Photograph: James Hislop\/The Guardian<\/p>\n As for water, you need a lot, says Lang: \u201cYou need, as a very minimum, 7 to 12 litres per person per day.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof Sarah Bridle, at the University of York, also recommends having an emergency food store: \u201cYes, definitely. There\u2019s lots of different reasons why we could have a food crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI did go a little bit crazy [during Covid lockdowns] getting lots of stuff in and what I learned very quickly there is to make sure you get stuff that you actually like and eat anyway,\u201d she says. \u201cIn my case, I love beans, lentils and chickpeas. I cook with them all the time and so have about a week\u2019s worth, one tin per day, and I use them on a regular basis,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned how to incorporate things that are long-life into my everyday diet, so it is now a natural part of what I\u2019ve got in the cupboard.\u201d<\/p>\n She says it is helpful to have official guidance on what people should store, but this should not be too prescriptive. \u201cIf they\u2019re not things you like, then it\u2019s going to be wasted when it goes past the use date.\u201d Some treats, such as sweets or chocolate, are good to have, especially for children, though her preferred treat is crisps.<\/p>\n The environmental campaigner and Guardian columnist George Monbiot has frequently warned of the fragility of the food system<\/a> and revealed the contents of his own stockpile<\/a> last year: 25kg of rice, 15kg of dried chickpeas, 15kg of bread flour, 7kg of chapati flour, 5kg of oats, six litres of vegetable oil, a slab of tinned tomatoes, some nuts and dried fruit. Along with the vegetables he grows, he says this is about two months\u2019 supply for his family of three.<\/p>\n Addressing the risks of food shortages requires large-scale systematic changes<\/a> but home stockpiles can buy time for the authorities in emergencies.<\/p>\n