The 10-minute emergency checklist every household should have

You do not need a bunker. You do not need 200 tins of beans. You need 10 minutes and this list.

Emergency preparedness sounds like something for extreme people. It is not. It is the same instinct that makes you keep a first aid kit in the car or check if the smoke alarm works. You are not paranoid. You are just not an idiot.

The 10-minute checklist

Set a timer. Go through this list. Check off what you already have, write down what you need to buy this week.

Water (2 minutes)

  • Do you have at least 6 litres of water stored per person? (That covers 3 days.)
  • Do you know where your water shut-off valve is?
  • Do you own a basic water filter or purification tablets? (A 10 EUR item from any outdoor shop.)

Food (2 minutes)

  • Could your household eat for 3 days without going to a shop? Tinned food, pasta, rice, energy bars.
  • Do you have a manual tin opener? (Not the electric one.)
  • Is there baby food or pet food if applicable?

Power and light (2 minutes)

  • Do you own a torch with working batteries?
  • Do you have a portable phone charger (power bank), charged?
  • Do you know where your fuse box is?

Communication (2 minutes)

  • Is there an emergency contact list written on paper? (Not just in your phone.)
  • Do you have a battery-powered or hand-crank radio?
  • Does everyone in your household know where to meet if you cannot get home?

Documents (2 minutes)

  • Are copies of IDs, insurance policies, and medical records in one grab-and-go folder?
  • Do you have some cash at home? (50-100 EUR in small notes.)
  • Are your important digital files backed up somewhere accessible offline?

What this tells you

If you checked off most items, you are already more prepared than 90% of people. If you found gaps, you now know exactly what to fix - and most of it costs under 30 EUR total.

This checklist is a simplified version of the master checklists in The Book You Should Never Read, which covers 24-hour, 72-hour, 2-week, and 3-month preparation levels. Start here. Go deeper if you want to.

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