Most emergency advice is about staying put. The power goes off, the taps run dry, and you sit it out at home. An emergency grab bag covers the other case: you are asked to leave in a hurry and have minutes, not hours, to decide what comes with you. For UK households that usually means flooding, or an evacuation called by the emergency services. It is the cheapest bit of preparation there is, because most of what goes in it is already in your house. It is also one of the least common. Only 19% of people in the government's 2026 preparedness survey said they had one.
What is a grab bag, and how is it different from an emergency kit?
Think of them as two jobs. The home kit is for a power cut or a water outage when you stay where you are: torch, radio, power bank, food that needs no cooking, water, first aid. We cover that side in our guide to buying an emergency kit in the UK.
The grab bag is the part you can carry. The government's Prepare campaign suggests keeping "items you might need to take with you if asked to leave your home quickly in a spare bag". One bag, packed in advance, within reach on the way out.
The two overlap. A torch and a first aid kit belong in both, so it makes sense to keep the grab bag beside the home kit and treat it as the top layer: the things you would take if you had to go.
What does the UK government say to put in a grab bag?
The clearest government list sits on the Prepare campaign's flooding page, since a rising river is the classic reason to be told to leave. It suggests a grab bag could include:
"any medication you need, a first aid kit and important documents, as well as items such as a torch, bottled water, warm waterproof clothing, and baby care items. Store the bag somewhere you can easily get to."
The same page adds a detail that is easy to skip and painful to miss: keep important documents, such as birth certificates, "in resealable water-tight plastic bags". For the longer list of what to keep at home, see the government emergency kit list, item by item.
The British Red Cross goes a little further. Its emergency kit guidance includes copies of important documents in a waterproof bag, spare house and car keys, and a paper list of emergency numbers "in case your phone loses power". For a kit you take on the move, it adds spare glasses or contact lenses, cash and bank cards, and a flask for hot drinks.
Emergency grab bag contents: a UK checklist
Put the two lists together, add what your own household needs, and you get something like this. Most of it you already own.
- Medication for several days, with a written list of what each person takes and the dose. The government's advice for disabled people and carers suggests a waterproof container, "for example, a plastic food container".
- A first aid kit, small enough to carry.
- Documents in a water-tight bag: copies of passports and birth certificates, plus your insurance policy details.
- Phone numbers on paper. Only 29% of people in the 2026 survey had important numbers written down. A flat phone takes your contacts with it.
- A battery or wind-up torch and spare batteries. Not the torch on your phone, which drains the battery you need for calls.
- A charged power bank and the right cable.
- Bottled water and food that needs no cooking, enough to see you through the journey and the first wait.
- Warm, waterproof clothing for each person, and sensible shoes.
- Cash and bank cards.
- Spare glasses or contact lenses, and spare batteries for hearing aids or other communication devices.
- Spare house and car keys.
- Baby care items if you have a baby: nappies, wipes and ready-to-feed formula.
An assistance animal needs a line of its own. The government's list for one is "important documents and veterinary records, supplies of food and water, a lead/harness, necessary medicines, toys and blankets". A family dog needs much the same.
Where should you keep a grab bag?
"Somewhere you can easily get to" is the whole rule, and it is harder than it sounds. The back of the cupboard under the stairs, behind the hoover, fails the test. So does the loft.
Pick a spot on the route you would actually take out of the house, such as a hook by the back door or the floor of the coat cupboard in the hall. Then tell everyone who lives there. A bag that only one person can find stays behind when that person is out.
Two habits keep it useful. Check it twice a year (the clocks changing is an easy reminder) and swap out anything that has expired, along with anything a growing child has outgrown. And leave it packed. A grab bag you raid for batteries in July is a bag with no batteries in January.
If you drive, the government also suggests a few essentials for the car boot in winter, including a torch, warm clothes and blankets, and a shovel for snow. That is a different kit for a different problem, and it can live in the car all season.
When should you leave the grab bag behind?
There is one exception, and the government states it without softening. On the same page that recommends a grab bag, it says "if you are escaping your house due to a fire you should not take anything with you at all."
A grab bag is for situations that come with some warning: a flood alert, a police cordon, an instruction to leave. In a fire, you get out and call 999.
Flooding brings a second rule. The bag only helps if you reach somewhere dry with it, and the Prepare flooding page is clear: "The number one cause of death during flooding is driving through flood water." It also says never to walk through it. If you live in an area at risk, signing up for flood warnings is what buys you the time to pick the bag up at all.
Who needs a grab bag most?
Anyone can be told to leave home. The households that find it hardest are the ones where someone cannot simply grab a coat and walk out.
If you look after an older parent, their grab bag belongs in the plan you make together, alongside the steps in our guide to an emergency kit for elderly parents. Their medication list and their GP's number matter more than anything else in it.
If someone at home relies on medical equipment, the government asks you to keep "a paper copy of any instructions" and to keep backup batteries charged. With a baby, ready-to-feed formula earns its place because, away from your own kitchen, you may not be able to boil water or sterilise bottles.
Children should know where the bag is and what it is for. In the same survey, only 32% of people living with children had talked to them about emergencies in the past year. Five minutes at the kitchen table changes that.
Build it yourself, or get it ready-made?
You can build a grab bag this weekend for very little. Documents, medication, warm clothes and keys are already in the house. The work is gathering them into one place and adding the few things you are missing, like a proper torch or a power bank. The government is relaxed about pace: "Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time."
The catch is the gap between knowing and doing. In the 2026 survey, 23% of people said not knowing enough about what to do had held them back from preparing further, and 11% said they had not had the time. A grab bag on a to-do list is no help in a flood.
That gap is what ReadyHome is for. We source and pack the kit so it arrives in one box. The Family box, for households of 4 or more, includes a READY GO evacuation grab bag on top of everything in the Complete box, which already has a waterproof document bag. The Essential and Complete boxes are home kits, so pair either one with your own bag of documents, medication and clothes. Whichever you choose, the things only you can pack, your prescriptions and your paperwork, still go in by hand.
A grab bag is a few minutes of thought now, set against packing in a hurry with someone at the door telling you to go. If you would rather have the kit sorted in one order, choose your ReadyHome box. Boxes start at £199, with free delivery.