Prepping – preparing your household to be self-reliant if normal life is disrupted – used to be seen as a fringe obsession. But last month the Government launched the Be Ready campaign, advising households to gather water, food and other supplies in case of a civil emergency.
It’s hard to imagine such a disaster happening, and the idea of adding yet more to the big shop bill seems unnecessary – especially when many struggle to put food on the table as it is. But flooding, power cuts, extreme weather or cyber attacks are now far more likely than we imagine.
So, should we really be preparing for disaster? Prepper Ana Grace and journalist Tim Bird give their perspectives.
“Be Prepared” was the motto of my Boy Scout troop when I was growing up in Kent. I seem to remember it had more to do with being able to tie a reef knot and make strong sweet tea as a treatment for shock than stocking up for Armageddon. I suppose we should be comforted that our governments are now giving some thought to how we might be prepared to tackle the inconveniences of emergencies such as floods and nuclear war.
Things are different in Finland, where I’ve lived since 1982. I’ve noticed the slightly sceptical British reaction to the recent emergency guidelines, published to “bolster preparedness… in line with European peers including France, Ireland and The Netherlands”. For Finns, preparedness in general has long been baked into everyday life.
In Finnish minds, the most likely major emergency has always been conflict with Russia, its nearest and biggest neighbour, with which it shares a 1,300km border. The invasion of Ukraine, and Finland’s extensive historic experience of Russian aggression and occupation, have made it feel more sensible than ever for Finns to be prepared for this worst-case scenario. Finland’s Winter War with Russia in 1939, and the subsequent Continuation War from 1941 to 1944, linger in the national memory, for the casualties suffered and for the transfer of large tracts of the east or the country to Soviet, then Russian, rule.
One of Nato’s newest members, Finland spent about 2.6 per cent of GDP in 2025/26, with a target of 3 per cent by 2029. Although the threat is much closer to home here than in the UK, there is less panic about how it might be confronted.
That is largely due to some national comfort in the knowledge that there is an active wartime force of around 280,000, out of a total population of just 5.7 million, as well as a reservist force of about 900,000. The professional Finnish military is significantly supplemented by a (mostly) male population trained in combat skills through their conscription, for varying periods, into the armed forces.
A reservist of Finland’s Guard Jaeger Regiment at a shooting range in Helsinki. Many Finns are trained in combat skills through conscription, and 900,000 are members of the reserve force (Photo: Alessandro RampazzoAFP)If you happen to be in Finland on the first Monday of the month at midday, don’t be alarmed if you hear the undulating, startling, wail of a siren. At least, not if it lasts for only seven seconds. If it lasts any longer, you should be able to judge from the reaction of any Finns in your vicinity that something is seriously amiss. Otherwise, the sirens are undergoing their regular tests for emergencies.
If the wail does last longer, Finns might be hurrying to one of 50,500 civil defence shelters, sufficient to accommodate about 85 per cent of the population. Larger permanent commercial and residential buildings are legally required to include a shelter.
Finland’s ministry of the interior has published a preparedness guide that takes into account long power and water cuts; extended disruption in internet or banking services; natural phenomena, such as storms and wildfires; and longer-term crises, such as military conflict or a pandemic.
The list of items on the supplies checklist is similar to that being distributed in the UK: food that can be eaten without cooking, a minimum of two litres of drinking water for each person for each of three days, a flashlight and batteries, wet wipes, and some cash. Toilet paper and pasta, the two items most conspicuously absent in supermarkets at the start of the pandemic in Finland, are not on the list.
I haven’t prepared our Helsinki house for emergencies as well as I might have done. We have a reasonable supply of canned food and plenty of duct tape, and flashlights with batteries. Cash? Only a box of expired currency notes from obscure destinations on various travels. Iodine tablets are on the Finnish list as a treatment for exposure to radioactivity. I remember seeing “iodine sold out” signs on the doors of Helsinki pharmacies soon after Russia invaded Ukraine. I don’t have any iodine tablets.
I carried out a quick, unscientific survey of Finnish friends’ households to find out what is included in their 72-hour survival kits. Out of five households, all had extra food such as soup and canned food, batteries and flashlights, and medicine and first aid kits; four had duct tape; two had iodine tablets; two had cash; and two had extra water. One friend proposed that whisky should be on the list, while another suggested champagne. Nobody mentioned mascara or Sauvignon Blanc (which Angela Rayner said she’d pack) or Twiglets (Andy Burnham’s doomsday snack of choice).
We are all supposed to know the location of our nearest shelter. Ours is about 2km away in suburban Helsinki. The capital has more than 5,000 shelters of different sizes, and the biggest ones double up as subterranean car parks, sports grounds, and even swimming pools.
Knowing Finns, there would probably be orderly queues at the doors of those shelters should the need arise. But knowing me, I’ll be rushing to get to the front.
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