A single mum has said following government advice to stock up on emergency supplies would mean sacrificing her childcare budget for the school holidays. Samantha Richards, who works full-time and relies on Universal Credit and her son’s disability allowance to cover the bills, said the call to prepare reminded her of the “survival of the fittest”. Last week, Wes Streeting said people should have water, tinned goods, baby food, torches and mobile phone charging packs ready in case of emergency. But one professor said the guidance “will appear at best tone deaf and at worst almost insulting” to households facing poverty.
The UK government said people did not need to buy everything at once. The government has drawn up recommendations for households to have three days’ worth of bottled water and tinned food to deal with a crisis such as a war, an online attack or a natural disaster. But not everyone has the disposable income that allows these types of purchases, said Samantha, 47. “I think the advice is good, but we do want to know what [the government] plan to do in the event of us needing this.
Samantha takes part in Changing Realities, a collaboration between more than 200 parents and carers on a low income from across the UK. She has torches and blankets already and never lets food in the house completely run out. But her autistic son’s safe foods require a fridge and freezer, and she worries if an emergency did happen, he would not be able to eat the tinned food if she did buy it. Instead, they would need to rely on other items in the cupboard.
“You may not feel very well after a few days but you can last more than three without eating,” Samantha said. But you can’t last very long without water, she believes, so that is what she will prioritise. According to University of Glasgow professor Ruth Patrick, the UK government’s guidance “will appear at best tone deaf and at worst almost insulting to the 14 million households currently facing poverty across the UK”. She is leading the Changing Realities project, and added: “There is a profound mis-match between this suggestion and the daily realities for parents and carers on a low-income up and down the country who are struggling to get by, especially as costs continue to rise and the temperatures drop.” “Preparedness shouldn’t be just for people that really truly can afford to,” said Ana, founder of UK Preppers Club on Facebook.
She said she was disappointed in the UK government announcement because it did not give people an idea of what to actually do in an emergency. Ana said she would have welcomed advice being distributed about what to do if there is no running water – how do you flush your toilet for example? The 42-year-old from Swansea said she was brought up to have “a rotating pantry” to give herself a safeguard for emergencies, including growing her own food and preserving it. She said it was Covid which caused her to “up the ante” as she was heavily pregnant and ended up having an emergency C-section.
Unable to naturally feed her baby, she found she did not have enough formula and was quoted £300 online for it, with the supermarkets she tried out of stock. That was when she started pushing for “preparedness”, and said: “Look after your family, then, if something like this happens, you don’t have to leave people, like myself at the time, vulnerable.” Ana said even just having a plan of who would pick up your child from school if the power went out, or where the family would meet if their property was inaccessible would be a good start. “It doesn’t have to be the Armageddon’s happening, but just generally having a coherent plan of the family. What happens if?” she added.
“What happens if there’s no power? What do you do? All those kind of little plans.” Ana said her advice would be for people to pick up an extra tin or pack of crackers every time they shop to slowly build up the supply. Donna Lloyd, 60, a supply teacher in Denbighshire, has been preparing with her wife since a power cut in the Covid lockdown highlighted that they did not have any way to cook.
She says “in all honesty, no, it is not realistic” for everyone to be able to afford to buy emergency supplies. Donna believes the UK government should use television programmes to explain how to prepare. Alongside stockpiling, she also thinks people should learn first aid, how to gather, filter and purify water, and how to power items such as radios and fridges using solar power or power banks or a generator. Yasmin Ibison, a senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, external (JRF) said preparing for emergencies was sensible.
There are 7.4 million low income families in the UK who were unable to afford essential items in the last six months and 1.5 million households across the UK who have used a food bank in the past six months, according to JRF’s cost of living tracker published in July 2026, external. Yasmin added: “When we have millions of people who already can’t afford essentials like food, heating, basic toiletries, the question I ask is how are they going to afford to buy additional items in their cupboards if they’re already struggling to meet these most basic and everyday needs?” The UK government said: “This campaign is about providing the public with simple steps to ensure households are properly prepared, freeing up front line services to support those most in need in the case of emergencies like extreme weather or power outages. “The advice is clear, you don’t need to do it all at once. Build up your readiness gradually over time by taking it step by step, and picking up an extra item or two when you can.” Sir Tom Jones ‘truly sorry’ as he cancels two shows due to illness Parents said goodbye to dancer son, 28, after stroke – now he hopes to perform again Campaigners warn Welsh island could be target for nuclear attack
