The Prepared Library

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Emergency Food Calculator

Count practical meal portions for a few days of disruption. Keep adult and child portions separate, choose how many meals must work without heat, and check water and household-specific needs.

Read the method and safety limits

Last reviewed 26 September 2026
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People and days

Children under 2 are kept outside the meal portion count because their feeding needs differ. Enter their feeds from your existing feeding plan below.

Meals and cooking access

Three meal occasions is an editable planning example, not a nutritional prescription. The remaining occasions need a safe limited-cooking method. Count a food as no-cook only when its exact label permits eating it without heating.

Other household needs
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Method

How the count works

For each age group, no-cook portions = people x days x no-cook meal occasions per day. Limited-cook portions = people x days x (all meal occasions minus no-cook occasions). Extra child eating occasions = children x days x daily extras. Total infant and pet feeds = days x the household daily count you enter for each. Food preparation water = your litres per household day x days, when supplied. No conversion loss or safety margin applies to this count.

Worked example: two adults and one child aged 2 or over, for three days, with three meal occasions each day and one no-cook occasion. The plan counts six adult no-cook portions, 12 adult limited-cook portions, three child no-cook portions and six child limited-cook portions. One extra child eating occasion per day adds three. This is a count of occasions, not a claim that adult and child portions are equal.

Check the actual pack sizes, meal ingredients and storage conditions to turn the counts into a shopping list. Start with food the household already eats, then fill gaps. Build and rotate a food cupboard.

Continue planning

Useful next steps

Read first

Build and rotate a food cupboard

Build a small reserve of familiar meals for a few days of disruption, with no-cook choices, safe storage and simple rotation.

 Related guidance

Choose no-cook food

Choose familiar food that can be eaten without heat, while checking labels, safe water and after-opening storage.

 Related guidance

Choose limited-cook food

Plan meals that need only brief heating or simple preparation, and understand when no-cook food is the better choice.

 Safety context

Food safety during a power cut

Use current UK food-safety guidance to decide how to handle chilled, frozen and cupboard food when the electricity is off.

Sources

Planning and safety evidence

  1. UK Prepare: Get prepared for emergenciesFew-day supplies, no-cook food, pet food and baby supplies. Checked 26 September 2026.
  2. NHS: The Eatwell GuideOverall food variety, special diets and the under-2 limitation. Checked 26 September 2026.
  3. Food Standards Scotland: Power cutsChilled food, cooking and infant formula cautions. Checked 26 September 2026.
  4. Food Standards Agency: Food safety in a power cutFood storage and handling during an outage. Checked 26 September 2026.
  5. NHS: How to make up baby formulaPreparation and hygiene. Checked 26 September 2026.
  6. Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service: Camping safetyCarbon monoxide risk from outdoor fuel-burning equipment used indoors. Checked 26 September 2026.