Prepping Budget: How to Get Started for Under £100

Most people assume that prepping on a budget isn’t possible – that preparing to survive a disaster is only something millionaires with bespoke survival bunkers can afford. Utter nonsense! In this article we’re going to look at how you can go about prepping on a budget, keeping the basic gear and supplies to under £100.

Bugging-In Basics – Critical Equipment for Home Survival

Assuming you’re ‘bugging in’, aka staying where your stockpile is, you will have the advantage of utilising all the supplies and resources you have carefully prepared in advance. During the emergency or disaster you’re prepping for, it is also assumed that the rest of the house and its contents remain generally accessible and usable. This means you can rely on your stored food, water, medical supplies, and any other provisions you have prepped. Making these assumption helps us when prepping on a budget.

You can use your home’s item and supplies, however the facilities, such as the kitchen for cooking, the bathroom for sanitation, and any other functional areas are non-functional.

What Type of Emergencies Are We Prepping For

Well, if we’re keeping it usable, practical but also still ‘Prepping on a Budget’, we can probably rule out the portable home-install NBC shower and quarantine facility (::wink::). We’ll assume you are bugging in, not going out, and the electricity and gas are off. However, the house itself is generally safe with no imminent risks such as fire or structural collapse.

This means that despite the lack of utilities, you’ll still have the advantage of being in a familiar environment with the ability to utilise your preps and resources effectively. You won’t need to worry about the additional complexities of outdoor survival, such as exposure to the elements or the need for portable shelter.

Essential and Effective Buggin-In Supplies

This budget prep list will be effective for a flood scenario, provided you are safely able to stay at the property, even if it means staying on the upper floors. I’ll link to supplies that are easy to store and access, even in confined spaces. I’ll obviously focus on items that do not require refrigeration or cooking, and ensure we stick adequate water purification methods down too. Lighting solutions such as battery-powered lanterns and flashlights, as well as extra batteries, will be crucial.

Having a well-thought-out plan and the right supplies will help you maintain a level of comfort and security during the emergency. Thankfully, prepping on a budget is compatible with both of those things. So you’re definitely in the right place! These will go towards making the situation much more manageable and significantly less stressful.

Prepping on a Budget – Our Survival Scenarios

Lets assume we want our survival kit to be usable for the following bugging-in emergencies:

Floods*
Fuel Crisis
Prolonged Power Blackout (Read our article: Surviving a prolonged blackout)
Food Supply Chain Collapse
Water Contamination or Water Supply Failure (Easy Purification Techniques)
Local Act of Terrorism
Cyber or Electrical Failure
Civil Unrest*
Local Police Issued Temporary Lockdown
Large Snow / Ice Storm
Airborne Toxic / Chemical Cloud**

(* emergency doesn’t compromise the safety of the home. You’ll have to periodically review that the situation hasn’t changed, requiring a bug-out. ** Emergency services or high authority has issued a stay-inside warning)

Prepping on a Budget – Additional Lists and Assumptions

The list will also provide additional material and resources to go mobile and bug-out, if the situation deteriorates and your home becomes at risk. We’ll assume you have access to seasonal clothing at the home.

Do you know what to do if the electricity is out and the situation is just starting to develop? Read and print off our guide on what to do when the power goes out at home.

What Emergency We’re Not Prepping For

While this list will be useful for many situations described, it’ll have limited or no use against the following emergencies. If these situations arise, it’s probably much wiser to move to safety, if possible.

NBC Threat or Accident
Significant or Rising Floods
Uncontained Fire
Unstable Ground near the Property
Civil Unrest that Threatens the Property or surrounding Buildings
Police or Government issued Evacuation Order

Basic Prepping on a Budget – A Shopping List

We’ll also assume food and drink for 1 person, for a period of 72 hours. If you’re a family or have multiple people to be concern about, just multiply the consumable quantities by the number of people.

We think the following list of survival items will infinity increase your positive outcome in an emergency scenario. It absolutely isn’t a definitive list of items, but when your prepping on a budget, you need to choose carefully what items are essential and what are not.

Survival Item	Price	Purchase
Pre-Made First Aid Kit (£11) While we have a great article on the best cheap first-aid kits to buy – this simple and highly portable kit is the first step in the right direction	£11	Purchase Article
+ 16x Painkiller Tablets Cheaper unbranded tablets available in shops, but for simplicity, just adds these to your cart before checkout	£2	Purchase
+ 48x Anti-Diarrhea Tablets A simple effective tablet. Surprisingly cheap – branded ones can cost this much for only 5 or 6 tablets. Don’t question it – make sure you have these meds in stock.	£5	Purchase
+ Wound Cleaning Wipes Essential wipes for cleaning cuts and grazes etc	£6	Purchase
+ Antibacterial gel (500ml) Simple way to minimise infection and increase health and well-being	£4	Purchase
Survival Whistle A bright, easy to locate, super loud whistle that can help attracts people’s attention	£6	Purchase
5x Jet Flame Lighters No frills simple way of generating flame to light the stove or fires etc. Nothing special	£4	Purchase
2x Torch & Lantern (2 for £8) Used these for years for everything from popping into the loft to help unpack a full car at night. Very bright & great battery life. Handles double up as hooks to hang them up	£8	Purchase
Multi-tool / Pen-Knife A general purpose tool for everything from slicing, cutting, opening cans, putting in/our screws etc. For other multi-tool options, check out our best multi-tool article [LINK]	£14	Purchase
Survival Stove & Fuel A great medium sized stove, that is less portable but more stable than some solutions. This cooker comes with 4 cans of fuel – which’ll last you for weeks.	£22	Purchase
50x Water Purification Tablets Enough tablets to purify 50L of unsafe drinking water. Coupled with the bottles below, should easily put you in great position regarding water supplies	£3	Purchase
12x 500ml Bottles of Water Small or big bottles, it doesn’t matter much. Small ones are easy to store when space is at a premium, but ironically take up more space in total.	£3	Purchase
72 Hours of Survival Food Save a fortune by spending an hour in a supermarket, compiling your own survival food for a 72hour period. Read our article on what to get and from where	£10	Article
Total	£98

That shopping list there, utilising the wonders of Amazon, will set you back only £98 at the time of writing. Technically you could squeeze in another item for the last £2.

Regarding the survival food – Check out my article on how you can get a decent, 2,000 calories per day, 72-hour menu from your local shop for under a £10. Yeah, i was surprised too. Its not garbage either, in fact you’ll be eating quite nicely. (There’s chocolate!)

If you were to replace the cheap supermarket bought food for things like MREs, you’d be talking £25-35 per DAY! Not evening comparable when you’re prepping on a budget – self imposed or not!

Make it Bug-Out-Able, Add the Following

While we’re prepping on a budget and designing this kit for bugging-in (aka staying put), you may need to bug-out, go mobile and get the hell outta dodge! This decision to evacuate may come immediately, or after 2 or 3 days bugged-in, either way, you’ll need to future-proof your kit with a few cheap additions.

Survival Item	Price	Purchase
Mess tins / Cups / Cutlery / Kettle / Carry Bag (Suitable for 2 people) If you’re bugging-out you’re not going to have plates and pans. This is a great little collection of tins, cups, cutlery and even a kettle. Please it comes with an ideal little carry bag to store it all in	£25	Purchase
300gsm Mummy Sleeping Bag While it wont be entirely suitable for the depths of winter, this cheap little bag will keep usual night time temperatures in the UK at bay.	£19	Purchase
Camping Shelter – Tent Tarp / Tarpaulin (Bag + Pegs) While a tent would be an expensive luxury costing at least 4x times this amount, this simple 3m x 3m tarp kit will protect you from the rain and is highly flexible where it is installed. Can also be used to cover broken windows to keep the elements out, gather supplies on etc.	£18	Purchase
6x Re-Hydration Sachets While hydration shouldn’t be an issue with the amount of water in the previous shopping list, these sachets contain essential minerals, salts and vitamins lost during bouts of illness. So think less hydration, and more replacing lost goodness from the body	£3	Purchase
Leak Proof 1L Canteen While you could get a canteen or bottle cheaper, we just wanted to list an item that’ll be robust to travel and drops-and-knocks.	£13	Purchase

Bonus Items to Consider when Prepping on a Budget

While we’re looking at a very basic list of survival gear in this article, I did want to throw out a couple more suggestions for you to consider. It may be that these end up on a list to review later when the budget stretches a bit more, but have a think and see how it’d fit into your survival plans.

Hand-Cranked Emergency Radio

This little gizmo is absoltely packed full of features that you would want in a survival scenario. Not only is it a hand-cranked radio, so you’ll never be without communication with emergency broadcasts, but it also contains:

Solar-cells to charge up a built in 8kmAh battery
Charging for USB devices, such as mobile phones
A powerful torch
An S.O.S alarm
A compass!

All of that and its shower-proof to (For outdoors – I wouldn’t expect you to take it into a shower!)

But this amazing survival radio for only £28

36,000mAh Power Bank & Solar Charger

One thing is becoming more and more abundant in our lives – mobile devices. When the power goes off and the radiators turn cold, we’re going to need electronics devices more and more for information, security and comfort.

While there are a TONNE of electrical power-banks out there in the market, this little one balances portability (Size and weight), with a rugged construction, features (FIVE USB ports and built-in LED torches) as well as a decent solar-cell.

This little unit can charge up to 4 devices at any one time, and supports fast-charging. Basically the perfect little device if you’re wanting to protect your electronic devices from a blackout.

The price? Currently available in the UK for only £50

Prepping on a Budget – Summary

Hopefully you’ve seen in this article that prepping on a budget is entirely possible with careful planning and a bit of smart shopping. Get products online where they’re cheaper and infinitely more accessible, with the main exception being food and possible medicines.

In this article, I hope you found we provided comprehensive guidance on how to begin prepping without breaking the bank. Our survival shopping list includes essential items like first aid kits, multi-tools, lanterns, and medicines, all selected for their affordability and utility. Additionally, we highlight some budget-friendly extras that can enhance your preparedness.

We also reviewed two functional and cost-effective solar panel/power bank gadgets, perfect for keeping your electronics running longer during emergencies. Start your prepping journey today with our detailed tips and ensure you’re ready for any situation, all while staying within your budget.