Prepping in a flat, with no storage

By SGWNI. Checked on 2 November 2026.

You can keep three days of food and water in a small flat, and it takes less room than most people expect. For one person, that’s roughly a shoebox of food and a pack of six water bottles, spread around wherever there’s a gap. The 3 days comes from the government’s Be Ready campaign, and it’s a sensible first target in a small home. You don’t need a spare room or a cellar.

You’re not the only one short of space. In the UK’s 2026 survey, 18% of people named not having enough space to store supplies as a barrier to preparing.

How much you actually need to fit

Be Ready’s figure for water is 3 litres per person per day for drinking, so 3 days is 9 litres for one person and 18 litres for two. Bottled water in a 2 litre size comes in packs of six, which is 12 litres: four days for one person, or two days for two.

Water is the heavy part. A litre weighs a kilogram, so a 12 litre pack weighs 12 kg. If you live up a few flights of stairs with no lift, buy it a pack at a time, or get it delivered with your shopping.

For food, you can get your exact amount from the food stockpile calculator. As a rough idea, three days for one adult at 2,000 kcal a day is 6,000 kcal.

Choose food that packs a lot into a small space

In a flat, what counts is how much energy fits on a shelf. Using typical pack sizes and USDA energy figures:

A jar of peanut butter holds about as much energy as five tins of beans, in a fraction of the space. Tins still earn their place, because they make a proper meal and they’re food you’d eat anyway. But in a small cupboard, it makes sense to mix them with denser food that needs no cooking. Be Ready asks for food that doesn’t need refrigeration or cooking, and suggests tinned meat, fish or vegetables, dried fruit and nuts.

Dried rice and pasta are compact too, at around 3,600 kcal for 1 kg. They need water and a way to cook them, so count them as an extra, not as your 3 days.

Everyone’s diet differs, so swap anything your household doesn’t eat, and leave out nuts if anyone has an allergy.

Where to put it

Think in small spaces, not one big one. You don’t need it all in one place.

• Under the bed. Water packs and flat boxes fit here. It’s often the biggest free space in a flat.
• The bottom of a wardrobe. Good for a box of tins, and it’s dark and cool if it’s away from a radiator.
• The top of a wardrobe. Keep this for light things like blankets, cereal bars and hygiene items.
• Inside a suitcase. A suitcase you rarely use is empty storage. Remember to unpack it before you travel.
• Behind the sofa, or along the back of a cupboard. Water bottles stand in a narrow gap.

US food safety guidance says to keep tinned and packaged food somewhere cool and dry, and never above or beside the cooker or under the sink. Avoid the cupboard with the boiler in it, and anywhere next to a radiator, because heat shortens shelf life. A balcony isn’t a good store either. It gets hot in summer, and the CDC says to keep stored water out of direct sunlight.

If you’re on the ground floor and flooding is a risk where you live, keep things off the floor where you can.

Keep the things you’d want in the dark close to each other, with a torch and spare batteries somewhere you could find by feel. Be Ready says torches are safer than candles, and that’s especially true in a small space.

Things to leave out

Don’t buy kit that’s designed for houses.

• Generators. They give off carbon monoxide. The CDC says to use them only outside, more than 20 feet (about 6 metres) from any windows, doors and vents, and that’s not possible from a flat. A power bank, or a small power station, is the realistic option.
• Camping stoves and barbecues. The FSA says most are designed for outdoor use only, so don’t plan on one indoors. Choose food that doesn’t need cooking.
• A big water drum. You probably won’t have anywhere to put it, and if you did, you might not be able to lift it. Several small bottles can be moved one at a time.

Make it part of your normal food

Space is much less of a problem if your stock is a bit more of what you already eat. Buy one or two extra items when you shop, as Be Ready suggests, and use the oldest first. The slow-build planner spreads this out over weeks, and nothing has to be stored until you’ve got somewhere to put it.

Your neighbours count too

Flats have one advantage over houses: people live close by. Be Ready suggests talking to your neighbours about what you could share in an outage, and swapping contact details. You don’t all need the same things in your cupboard, and a quick chat on the landing is free.