Claire Helen, 53, from Abergavenny, has put together a doomsday box for around £50, stocking the essentials the Government's new campaign says households should have for an emergency. She began assembling her stockpile in 2024 after seeing her own mother do the same, and her son George, 21, nicknamed it her 'doomsday box'.
Government 'Be Ready' campaign advice
The Government's 'Be Ready' campaign, released in October 2026, urges people to stock up on essentials to last three days if needed, including three litres of drinking water per person per day, food, hygiene products and a first aid kit. Claire started by buying a £20 wind-up radio and torch, along with batteries, matches, candles and tealights.
She says stocking up is important because she lives eight miles from the nearest town in an area at high risk of flooding. "Personally living in the area where we are it's a very, very high risk flood area and we get cut off regularly," she said. "Every winter the rivers flood and last year, we're just outside of Monmouth and there were horrific floods."
Beyond flooding and power cuts
Claire, a content creator, has added items over time, including chocolate, biscuits and tea bags. She has also started thinking about threats beyond weather-related events. "As times change we're going to need new things like cash because cash machines could go down due to the increased cyber threat," she said. "Things like that I hadn't actually thought of putting in my original doomsday box – I hadn't gone that far."
She says the Government has had similar advice available since 2004, and that criticism online misses the point. "There's also a lot of negative comments from people online saying 'you're a sheep' or 'this is all the government trying to scaremonger us'," she said. "The government have actually had this advice out since 2004. It's been out there for more than 20 years, they've just chosen to renew it and added a couple of new things."
Family tradition and practical stockpiling
Claire comes from a family of preppers. Her mum Joyce, 83, stocked up for the millennium, and her grandma Helen made her own jams, pickles and grew her own fruit and vegetables. Claire has been adding to and rotating her stockpile since 2024, and keeps a separate cupboard of tinned food such as beans, vegetables, fruit and lentils.
She also has refills for her gas camping stove and two water butts collecting rainwater, which can be treated with purifying tablets for drinking water. "If it's doomsday, you're having chocolate," she said. "I'd say I've probably only spent £50 on all of the bits, the batteries and candles, things like that."
Claire says being prepared is about protecting her family, which includes four grown-up children, a grandson, a dog, three cats and four guinea pigs. "The more people are prepared it frees up the emergency services to get to those vulnerable people first," she said. She compares prepping to getting a flu vaccine, adding: "The way I see it you're protecting yourself and your family in the same way."
