About this site

Why we're here

Safe. Prepared. is a UK website offering practical advice on emergency preparedness for households, with 1,767 guides covering everything from getting started and emergency kits to water, food, backup power, first aid, floods, storms and heatwaves. Our guides are built on information from the UK government, councils, fire and rescue services, the NHS, the Met Office, and other official and independent UK bodies.

We built this site because threats, both global and domestic, are increasing, and because everyday disruption matters as much as a major catastrophe. Our grid is already at its limits, demand keeps rising, and data centres are placing further demands on it. The UK is now regularly experiencing more severe weather, so we need to be ready for heatwaves as well as losing power or heating in winter. We believe energy independence should be a goal for most homes.

Our focus is resilience in place, with clear, measured steps rather than alarm. That includes growing a small amount of food to supplement our supplies, not trying to produce everything ourselves. Throughout our guides, we share our own experiences alongside the official guidance, so you can make sensible preparations that suit your home and family.

Meet Mark

Mark is a British entrepreneur, husband and father of two, with a background in finance and in building an international business. Planning ahead, managing risk and making sensible use of resources have been part of his working life, and he brings the same practical approach to helping families feel more confident about looking after the people who matter to them. He went to a military boarding school and grew up on army bases, where he drove a tank at the age of six.

At home, Mark’s resilience plan covers solar power, water collection and storage, food reserves, chickens and bees, and learning practical skills. He has solar panels and batteries that keep his home running through a power cut, and stores about a month’s supply of food alongside water. He also grows a modest amount of food to supplement his stores, and suggests potatoes as an easy place for readers to start. His projects focus on energy independence, backup power and achievable steps towards a more resilient household, including learning what works, what is worth spending money on and what can be kept simple.

Throughout the guides, Mark draws on his own experience, sharing practical ideas and honest lessons that readers can check and apply to their own homes.