Three days of no-cook food is the Be Ready baseline. Longer stores are useful for snow, longer cuts or supply disruption — if you can cook safely and store food properly.
What keeps well
- Dried staples: rice, pasta, oats, flour, lentils, dried beans (need water and fuel to cook).
- Tins and jars: beans, tomatoes, fish, meat, fruit, veg — edible cold in a power cut (FSA).
- UHT milk / plant drinks, nut butters, dried fruit, crackers.
- Cool-stored veg: potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage — see preserving without power.
Storage rules that prevent waste
- Cool, dry, dark; off the floor; away from chemicals and fuel.
- Use-by dates are about safety; best-before about quality (Food Standards Scotland).
- First in, first out — rotating stock.
- Throw away bulging, leaking or badly rusted tins; never taste to check.
Bottling and preserving
Home bottling of vegetables needs tested methods because of botulism risk. Follow FSA preservation advice and our Preserve pages.
Cooking without mains power
Camping stoves and BBQs are outdoors only (NHS carbon monoxide). Match recipes to your cooker on the Recipes page (gas, BBQ, Dutch oven, no-cook filters).
- Plain flour 1.5 kg · £0.78 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- White rice 1 kg · £1.25 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- Pasta 1 kg · £1.29 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- Porridge oats 1 kg (extra) · £0.85 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- Baking powder · £0.77 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- Table salt · £0.82 (Asda page, 1 Nov 2026) · Asda page
- Dried red lentils · where to buy
- Chopped tomatoes (tinned) · where to buy
- Vegetable oil 1 L · where to buy
- Stock cubes · where to buy