Power Outage Kit
Power outages in the UK have become more frequent and more severe in recent years, driven by increasingly extreme weather events and an ageing electricity grid that was not designed to cope with modern demands. Storm Arwen in November 2021 left nearly one million homes without electricity, with some rural communities in the north of England and Scotland enduring over a week without power in freezing conditions. Storm Eunice in February 2022 caused further widespread outages across southern England and Wales, toppling trees onto power lines and damaging substations. These events exposed significant vulnerabilities in the UK's power infrastructure and highlighted how quickly modern life unravels when the electricity stops flowing.
The impact of a power outage extends far beyond losing the lights. Without electricity, most central heating systems will not function — even gas boilers rely on electric pumps and electronic ignition. Refrigerated and frozen food begins to spoil within hours, potentially costing hundreds of pounds in wasted groceries. Mobile phones and laptops lose charge, cutting you off from news, weather updates, and the ability to contact family or emergency services. If you rely on electric medical equipment such as a CPAP machine, oxygen concentrator, or powered wheelchair, a power cut can become a medical emergency. Those on the Priority Services Register with their energy supplier should receive advance warning and additional support, but it is far better to have your own backup plan.
A dedicated power outage kit should focus on four key areas: light, warmth, communication, and sustenance. LED lanterns and head torches with long battery life are safer and more practical than candles, though candles serve as a useful backup. A wind-up or battery-powered DAB radio allows you to receive BBC emergency broadcasts and local news updates. A power bank with at least 20,000mAh capacity can keep a smartphone charged for several days of conservative use, and a small solar panel can trickle-charge devices if the outage extends beyond a day or two. For cooking, a camping stove with butane or propane canisters allows you to prepare hot food and drinks — never use barbecues or camping stoves indoors due to the lethal risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Tick as you go.
See what you're missing.
Lighting
5 items
Handheld LED flashlight providing reliable illumination. Essential for navigation, signalling, and camp tasks after dark.
A reliable LED headlamp provides hands-free illumination for navigating, setting up camp, and performing tasks in darkness. Essential kit for any UK survival scenario where torchlight alone won't cut it.
Chemical light sticks provide reliable, waterproof illumination without batteries or spark risk. Ideal for emergency signalling, marking positions, and low-level lighting in survival scenarios.
A rechargeable LED lantern lights a whole room or tent with soft, even light — far more useful than a torch for sitting, cooking and keeping children calm during a power cut.
Long-burning candles give hours of reliable light and a little warmth in a power cut, with no batteries to go flat — the classic backup for when the lights go out.
Communication
2 items
A wind-up or solar-powered emergency radio keeps you connected to weather warnings, emergency broadcasts, and rescue coordination when the power grid fails. Your lifeline to critical information.
When phone networks are down or you're out of signal, two-way radios keep your group in contact. Essential for coordinating a family, a hiking party, or neighbours during an outage.
Power & Charging
4 items
A portable battery pack keeps your phone, GPS, and headlamp charged when mains power is unavailable. Essential for maintaining communication, navigation, and emergency calling capability in the field.
A portable solar panel provides renewable off-grid power for charging devices and power banks indefinitely. The ultimate self-sufficient power source for extended expeditions and prolonged emergency situations.
Lithium AAs last far longer, survive the cold, and store for a decade without leaking — the batteries you actually want powering a torch or radio in an emergency.
A rechargeable battery in a box with real mains sockets and USB ports — enough to keep phones, a router, lights and small medical devices running through a power cut, silently and indoors.
Food
2 items
Long-shelf-life emergency food bars provide concentrated calories when normal food supplies are unavailable. Compact, calorie-dense, and requiring no preparation or water to consume.
A sturdy manual can opener gets you into your stored tinned food when there's no power — the cheap, overlooked tool that a whole food stockpile depends on.
Fire & Cooking
1 item
Compact camping stove for boiling water and cooking food. Essential for hot meals and water purification.
First Aid
1 item
Carbon monoxide is invisible, odourless and deadly — an alarm is the only way to know it's there, and essential wherever you burn fuel for heat, light or cooking.
Warmth
1 item
A good stainless flask keeps drinks and food hot for the best part of a day with no power at all — a hot brew in a cold, dark house does more for morale than almost anything.
Where it goes,
how often you check it.
One box, one place
A 50L Really Useful Box, kept dry, out of sunlight, accessible without a torch.
Quarterly check-in
Calendar reminder for the first weekend of January, April, July, October. 10 minutes.
Rotate the perishables
Water tanks every 6 months, food rations on best-before, batteries every 5 years.
More preparedness guides.
Home Emergency Kit Essentials
Power cuts, flooding, storms — prepare your home with these essential emergency supplies to keep your family safe.
How to Stay Warm in a UK Winter Power Cut
Practical, proven methods to keep yourself and your family warm when the heating fails during a British winter — from layering techniques to emergency heat sources.
