72-Hour Emergency Kit Checklist
What to keep at home to get through the first three days of an emergency on your own, the minimum the EU now asks every household to cover, with quantities worked out for a family of four.
In March 2025 the European Commission published its Preparedness Union Strategy and asked every household in the EU to keep enough essential supplies to manage for at least 72 hours in an emergency. The UK Government and US FEMA give similar advice. A 72-hour emergency kit is the practical form of that request: the things that let your household get through the first three days of a power cut, flood, storm or wider crisis without needing anyone to bring you anything.
This checklist brings together what those agencies actually list, then works the quantities through for a family of four so you know what to buy rather than just what category it falls under.
Seventy-two hours is the minimum the European Commission chose. After a large incident, help can take longer than that to reach every household, which is why it is a minimum rather than a target. Germany's civil protection agency plans for up to ten days and Sweden asks households to manage for at least a week. Our guide on how long emergency supplies should last compares them.
The checklist
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Drinking water | The one thing you cannot go without for three days. Quantities below. |
| Food that needs no cooking | Tinned meat, fish, beans and fruit, cereal bars, nut butter, dried fruit. Assume no power and no gas. |
| Manual tin opener | The item people most often discover they are missing. |
| Battery or wind-up torch | The UK Government notes torches are safer than candles. One per person is easier than sharing. |
| Battery or wind-up radio | Mobile networks may be down or overloaded. Radio is how official updates reach you. |
| Spare batteries | For the torch and radio. Check they fit before you need them. |
| Charged power bank | Keeps one phone going for days if used sparingly. |
| First aid kit | Check contents and dates once a year. |
| Medicines you rely on | See the caution below. Speak to your pharmacist. |
| Hand sanitiser and wet wipes | Both appear on the UK list. Water for washing may be scarce. |
| Refuse sacks and ties | For waste and basic sanitation if toilets cannot be flushed. |
| Copies of important documents | ID, insurance, prescriptions, emergency contacts, in a waterproof bag. |
| Some cash in small notes | Card payments stopped across Spain and Portugal during the April 2025 blackout. |
| Warm layers and blankets | Heating may fail along with the power. |
| Baby, pet and specific needs | Formula, nappies, pet food, spare glasses, hearing aid batteries. |
How much, for a family of four
Official guidance usually gives a rate per person per day and stops there. Here it is multiplied out for two adults and two children over three days.
Water
The agencies do not agree on one number, so here are all three. The UK Government cites the World Health Organization's survival figure of 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, and adds that 10 litres per person per day will make you more comfortable. US Ready.gov advises at least one US gallon, about 3.8 litres, covering drinking and basic sanitation.
| Basis | Per person per day | Family of four, 3 days | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK minimum (drinking) | 3 L / 0.8 US gal | 36 L / 9.5 US gal | 36 kg / 79 lb |
| US Ready.gov (drinking and sanitation) | 3.8 L / 1 US gal | 45 L / 12 US gal | 45 kg / 100 lb |
| UK "more comfortable" | 10 L / 2.6 US gal | 120 L / 32 US gal | 120 kg / 265 lb |
A sensible target for three days sits between the first two rows: about 40 to 45 litres for a family of four, which is four or five 10 litre containers or around thirty 1.5 litre bottles. The water calculator runs the numbers for your own household.
Food
No agency sets an emergency calorie target. The NHS gives around 2,000 kcal a day for women and 2,500 kcal for men as a broad guide to ordinary needs. Taking 2,000 kcal per adult and 1,500 kcal per child as planning figures, this household needs about 7,000 kcal a day, or 21,000 kcal over three days.
In practice that is about 58 standard 400 g tins of beans, or around 6 kg (13 lb) of dry food such as oats, pasta and rice. Neither is a sensible diet on its own, and dry food is useless without water and a way to cook it, so aim for a mix weighted toward food you can eat cold. The food calculator has a table of which foods carry the most energy for their weight.
Everything else
| Item | Family of four, 3 days | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Torches | 4 | One each avoids sharing in the dark. |
| Radio | 1 | Battery or wind-up. |
| Spare batteries | 1 set per device | Estimate. |
| Power bank | 1 or 2 | Estimate. A 20,000 mAh bank charges a typical phone several times. |
| Toilet paper | 2 to 3 rolls | Estimate, from ordinary household use. |
| Wet wipes | 1 or 2 packs | Estimate. |
| Refuse sacks | 10 to 15 | Estimate. |
| Cash | Your call | Enough for a few days of essentials if cards stop working. |
How much medication you can hold is set by your prescription and your pharmacist, and for some medicines by law. Ask your pharmacist or prescriber what emergency supply is possible for you. We will not suggest a quantity.
Infants are not small adults. Formula, sterilising and feeding in an emergency have their own requirements. Talk to your health visitor or paediatrician, and see the CDC's guidance on infant feeding in emergencies linked below.
If anyone in the household relies on powered medical equipment, make a plan with their care team now. In Great Britain, register with your energy supplier's Priority Services Register so they know you need extra support during a power cut.
Use torches rather than candles. If your plan includes a camping stove, barbecue or generator, never use it indoors, in a garage or near an open window. These produce carbon monoxide, which has no smell and kills people in ordinary homes after storms every year. The CDC advises keeping a generator at least 6 metres (20 feet) from any door, window or vent, and a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm is a sensible addition to this list.
Where to keep it
Together, in one place everyone in the household knows about, somewhere cool and dry and not in the part of the house most likely to flood. A couple of large plastic crates work well. The water is the bulky part: if space is tight, split it between two locations rather than leaving some of it out.
Keep it separate from a grab bag. The 72-hour kit is for staying put. A grab bag is the much smaller set of things you carry if you are told to leave.
Keep it from quietly going out of date
A kit assembled once and never opened fails slowly. Water you filled yourself should be replaced every six months, batteries run down in the drawer, and first aid supplies and food pass their dates. Put a check in the calendar twice a year, and our rotation guide covers how to keep food moving.
This is the job StayReady Kits was built for. You tell it who lives in your household and it works out the water and food target for them, scores what you have against it, and reminds you before anything expires, so a kit that was complete in March is still complete in October.
Common questions
What is a 72-hour emergency kit?
Supplies that let a household look after itself for the first three days of an emergency without outside help. The European Commission asked every EU household to be able to do this in March 2025.
How much water do I need for 72 hours?
At least 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day according to the UK Government, or about 3.8 litres (one US gallon) per person per day for drinking and sanitation according to US Ready.gov. For a family of four over three days, roughly 36 to 45 litres.
Is 72 hours enough?
It is a minimum. Germany plans for up to ten days and Sweden for at least a week. Complete three days first, then extend.
Do I need special emergency rations?
No. Ordinary tinned and dry food you already eat works well and is easier to rotate. Specialist long-life rations are an option, not a requirement.
Sources
- European Commission, EU Preparedness Union Strategy, 26 March 2025. Source of the 72-hour recommendation.
- UK Government, Prepare: get prepared for emergencies. Source of the 2.5 to 3 litre and 10 litre water figures, the kit list, and the note that torches are safer than candles.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Build a Kit and Water, Ready.gov. Source of the one US gallon per person per day figure and the US kit list.
- NHS inform, Understanding healthy weight, for the 2,000 and 2,500 kcal reference figures.
- UK Government, Prepare: power cuts, for the Priority Services Register and medical equipment advice.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Carbon monoxide poisoning basics and infant feeding in emergencies.
- ENTSO-E, 28 April 2025 Iberian blackout.
Know when your kit is actually complete
StayReady Kits turns this checklist into a readiness score for your own household. It works out the water and food target from the ages of the people and pets you live with, shows what is missing, and reminds you before anything expires. Metric or imperial, free on the App Store, no account required.
Download on the App Store