Keep useful food for disrupted days

Look at what you already eat before adding anything to the cupboard. A useful reserve fits your tastes, dietary needs and budget. Some familiar food that can be eaten without cooking gives you an option if normal meal preparation is interrupted.

Think in meals rather than a collection of tins. What could you put together, and could everyone at home eat it? Check what needs water or heating. Buying a little extra during normal shopping can be more manageable than trying to fill a cupboard at once.

1. Choose a few foods you already use that can be stored as their labels direct. Include something suitable without cooking; check preparation instructions rather than guessing that a packaged food is ready to eat.
2. Put foods with nearer dates where you will notice them and use them in your usual meals. Replace what you use when you can.
3. Read the date wording. A use-by date concerns safety; a best-before date concerns quality. Don't eat food after its use-by date even if it looks or smells normal.
4. Check storage instructions after opening as well as before. A cupboard product may need refrigeration once opened, so a large pack may be inconvenient when the fridge is unavailable.

Keep fridge and freezer doors closed as much as possible during a power cut. How long food stays cold depends on conditions, including the appliance and how often it is opened. A quoted number of hours is not a guarantee for your food.

Use a fridge thermometer and the current food-safety advice to help assess what has happened. The Food Standards Agency provides power-cut guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Food Standards Scotland provides guidance for Scotland. Read the relevant advice before deciding what to keep, cook or discard.

Don't try to solve uncertainty by tasting food. If you cannot establish that perishable food has remained safe, follow the food authority's disposal advice. Keeping familiar shelf-stable meals available reduces the pressure to use doubtful chilled food.

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• You can name a meal you would be willing and able to eat without normal cooking facilities.
• The food fits the needs of the people who will eat it, and you have checked preparation and storage labels.
• You can open and serve it with the utensils already available.
• You know which foods require refrigeration and where to find power-cut food-safety advice.
• Your stored food is being used and replaced, rather than forgotten.

A food plan also needs suitable water for drinking and preparation. The water guide covers access and interruption notices; the power-cut guide helps you organise the immediate priorities when electricity fails. Neither calls for replacing your ordinary diet with specialist products.