Be Emergency Ready: What to Have at Home

The Be Emergency Ready booklet arriving in Irish homes this autumn is a useful reminder to have a few basics ready in case the power, water or roads are affected for a few days.

The good news is that you probably already have quite a bit of what it recommends. Torches, warm blankets, a first aid kit and somewhere to store drinking water are all fairly ordinary household items. And if you camp or spend time outdoors, you may have even more of the list covered already.

Below, we’ve gone through the main points from the checklist, what they’re for and a few things worth thinking about before buying anything. If you’d rather see everything in one place, our home emergency kit page groups the items by light, warmth, water, cooking, first aid and storage. Or skip straight to the full checklist.

The checklist comes from the Office of Emergency Planning and you can read the full Be Emergency Ready booklet on gov.ie. 53 Degrees North is not affiliated with the campaign. We’re an outdoor retailer, but many of the items recommended are the same things we’ve been supplying to campers and hillwalkers since 2005.

What does the Be Emergency Ready checklist cover?

The booklet covers water, food, light and heat, medicine, hygiene, staying connected and important documents, along with a shorter list of things to take if you ever need to leave home.

It also makes an important point: you do not need to buy everything at once. Check what you already have first and fill in the gaps over time.

Light: start with a reliable torch

Any working torch is useful during a power cut, but a headtorch has one obvious advantage: it leaves both hands free.

That makes a real difference when you’re checking the fuse board, cooking, carrying things around the house or simply trying to find something in the dark.

The Petzl TIKKA Core is a good example. It can run from its rechargeable battery or three standard AAA batteries, giving you a useful backup if charging isn’t an option. Its storage pouch can also be used to soften the light and turn it into a simple lantern.

If you prefer something straightforward, the Petzl TIKKINA comes with standard batteries, while the Black Diamond Astro 300 Rechargeable is a compact rechargeable option.

You can compare more options in our guide to the best head torches.

For lighting a room, a lantern is often more useful than a torch. The Vango Lunar 250 Recharge USB can sit on a table or hang from its handle, and its USB output can also be used to give a phone a small top-up.

The booklet also recommends keeping matches or a lighter somewhere safe. Lifesystems Stormproof Matches come in a watertight container and are designed to keep working in poor weather.

Warmth: make one room comfortable

The advice in the booklet is simple: close windows and doors, stay together in one room and have blankets, sleeping bags or thermal blankets ready.

If you already own sleeping bags for camping, there’s no need to buy something specifically for this. Bring them down from the attic and you’ve already covered one part of the checklist. If you do need one, our sleeping bag range includes adult and junior options.

Emergency thermal blankets are also worth knowing about because they take up very little space. The Lifesystems Thermal Emergency Blanket weighs just 55 g and packs down smaller than a paperback. The larger Lifesystems Heatshield Thermal Double Blanket is designed for one or two people and can be reused.

Hand warmers are another simple option if you’re sitting still for a long period. HotHands warmers activate when opened, while Lifesystems Reusable Hand Warmers can be reset and used again.

Water: work out what your household actually needs

The booklet recommends 2 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day.

It sounds manageable until you multiply it out. For a household of four, three days means somewhere between 24 and 36 litres of drinking water.

The first priority is bottled drinking water stored somewhere cool and dark.

A folding water carrier can also be handy if bad weather is forecast and you have time to prepare. The Easy Camp Nettle Folding Water Carrier holds 8 litres but folds down almost flat when it isn’t being used.

Water treatment is best thought of as a backup rather than a replacement for stored drinking water. Always follow any advice issued by Uisce Éireann.

Lifesystems Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Drops can treat up to 60 litres of water, while the Lifesystems Water Filter Purifier Bottle filters water as you drink.

You can find the wider range in water purification.

Cooking if the power is off

The booklet recommends having non-perishable food available and using the food in your fridge first.

If you already own a camping stove, it can also give you a way to boil water or prepare a simple hot meal when there’s no electricity.

The Go System Dynasty Compact II is a straightforward single-burner stove with a push-button igniter. Based on Go System’s stated fuel consumption, one 227 g cartridge gives roughly 80 minutes of cooking at full power.

The important point here is safety. Camping stoves are designed for outdoor use. Use them outside, on a patio or in another properly ventilated outdoor area, never inside the house, and always follow the instructions supplied with the stove.

You can see more options in our camping stove range.

First aid and hygiene

A first aid kit is another item many households already own. The main thing is knowing where it is and checking that the contents are still usable.

The booklet also recommends keeping prescription medicines up to date and having a copy of your prescriptions available.

If you do need a kit, the Lifesystems Traveller First Aid Kit covers everyday essentials including dressings, bandages, blister care, gloves and basic tools. The Lifesystems Waterproof First Aid Kit keeps its contents protected inside a waterproof case.

For hygiene, things become awkward fairly quickly if the water is off. Lifeventure Dry Wash Gel lets you clean your hands without using drinking water.

Power and staying connected

Keeping a phone charged gives you access to updates, emergency numbers and family contacts, so having a charged power bank ready is useful.

The Go Travel Power Bank 10000 can charge up to three devices and has a simple battery-level indicator. The smaller Go Travel Power Bank 5000 is light enough to keep in a bag or coat pocket.

A power bank can also recharge USB headtorches and other small devices.

The booklet recommends having access to a battery-powered, wind-up or solar radio as well. If you don’t have one, it specifically mentions your car radio as a backup.

Another useful tip from the booklet is to save important phone numbers and a photo of your emergency checklist to your phone before you need them.

Documents and what to take if you need to leave

Birth certificates, passports, driving licences, insurance information, medical details and emergency contacts are much easier to deal with if they’re already kept together.

The booklet recommends putting important documents in a resealable waterproof bag.

Lifeventure DriStore LocTop Bags come in a set of three and are designed for documents, phones and other small valuables. Larger dry bags are useful for clothing and bulkier items.

If you do need to leave home, the booklet keeps the list fairly short: medication, hygiene items, warm and waterproof clothing, your phone and charger, identification, important documents, cash and cards.

For wet weather, a proper waterproof jacket is the best option. Our guide to choosing a waterproof jacket explains what to look for.

A Trekmates Emergency Poncho is a much lighter backup. It weighs around 70 g, packs into a pocket and can be reused.

Home emergency checklist

Here is the full list in one place, grouped the same way as the sections above. Tick off what you already have first, then fill the gaps over time.

Based on the Be Emergency Ready checklist from the Office of Emergency Planning. 53 Degrees North is not affiliated with the campaign.

Where to start

Not everything on the checklist is something you need from an outdoor shop.

Bottled water and tinned food are supermarket items. Medicines belong with the pharmacy. A road map can come from the filling station.

Some of the most useful preparation costs nothing at all: knowing your Eircode, writing down emergency contacts, and knowing where the water, gas and electricity can be turned off in your home.

Most importantly, you do not need to build an emergency kit in one shopping trip.

Have a look at what you already own first. Then think about the things you would miss most quickly if the power or water went off. For many households, that means reliable light, something warm and a way to keep phones charged.

The booklet puts it well: “Some preparation is better than no preparation at all.”

If you do need to fill a few gaps, start with our home emergency kit, or browse our torches and headtorches, sleeping bags, camping stoves and first aid kits.