Forget baked beans! Professional middle-class preppers reveal the smart alternatives you should REALLY stock up on for when disaster strikes

Britons have emptied supermarket shelves of baked beans, bottled water and batteries after Labour issued a stark warning to households last week to 'be ready' for a national crisis.Yet, despite retailers like Ocado reporting huge spikes in essential goods, including tinned soups, so-called 'preppers' who have spent decades stockpiling in preparation for when 'disaster strikes' told the Daily Mail how people's recent efforts might've gone to waste.Instead of beans and soups, there are much healthier and easier alternatives to stock up on in case of an emergency, be that a natural catastrophe or a cyber attack.Wife and mother-of-one Ana, based in Wales, urged those wishing to become more prepared to fill their pantries with tinned lentils, chickpeas, butter beans or mixed beans, rather than baked beans. The author of How to Stock Up For An Emergency: The Simple UK Guide To Food, Water & Essential Household Supplies, said: 'They’re often overlooked when everyone heads for the baked beans, but they can be just as useful and in fact much healthier due to not having much salt or sugar added on.'You can add them to a salad, mix them with tinned vegetables, or mash chickpeas with a little seasoning and olive oil to make a spread for crackers, similar to hummus.'I’d personally look for the ready-to-eat tinned or pouched versions, especially if you’re preparing for a power cut. Dried pulses are useful too, but they generally need cooking, water and fuel.'Sally Yarnold, 49, from Lancashire, has been prepping for over 30 years and now runs the Root & Ridge Homestead, a website and community project offering advice on foraging, cooking and independent, sustainable living.She told the Daily Mail: 'When people ask me what they should stockpile, I always want to ask a question in return: what will you be able to eat if you have no electricity, no gas, no running water, or all three? Wife and mother-of-one Ana (pictured), based in Wales, urged those wishing to become more prepared to fill their pantries with tinned lentils and chickpeas rather than baked beans 'For an emergency supply, I’d start with food that can be eaten straight from its packaging, without cooking, adding water or relying on a fridge.'Her suggestions included ready-to-eat tinned fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna, tinned meat, vegetables and fruit, nut butters, nuts and seeds, dried fruit, crackers and oatcakes, cereal bars and ready-to-eat tinned meals, as well as long-life milk.'There are good reasons for that mix,' she explained. 'Fish, meat, cooked pulses and nut butters can contribute protein, crackers, oatcakes and fruit provide carbohydrates, nuts and seeds add energy and fats and fruit and vegetables help provide nutrients. 'I’d favour foods that are familiar and enjoyable, not just whatever has the longest date on the packaging. A stressful few days are not the time to discover that nobody in the family will eat what you’ve stored.'Sally also encouraged those wishing to prep to store at least two manual tin openers, and to check the labels, because not every product sold in a tin or pouch is ready to eat cold.Ana, meanwhile, highlighted the importance of tinned potatoes, explaining: 'They are particularly handy because they’re already cooked and can help make a meal more filling.'She also noted that tinned tomatoes and passata are 'brilliant to have' because they can be 'turned into so many different meals'.'Add lentils, chickpeas or vegetables and you’ve got the beginnings of a soup or sauce. If you have a safe way to cook, you can serve it with pasta or rice,' explained Ana, who also founded the UK Preppers Club on Facebook, which has more than 17,500 members.Mother-of-one Ana is the author of How to Stock Up for an Emergency: The Simple UK Guide to Food, Water & Essential Household SuppliesHer other tips included buying powdered foods because they take up less space, and also growing your own herbs, salad leaves, pea shoots, or spring onions, all of which don't require any outside space, but rather just a windowsill instead.However, whilst neither prepper would put soups or beans high on their stockpiling agenda, they both agreed that Britons were right to secure bottles of water.'Water is every bit as important as food, and I think it deserves much more attention than it often receives,' said business owner and writer Sally, who runs one of the UK's largest homesteading (a lifestyle focused on self-sufficiency) groups on Facebook.'Store drinking water in suitable, clean containers and keep it somewhere cool and away from direct sunlight,' she continued. 'Remember that you may also need water for medication, washing, basic hygiene and pets. The amount you need will depend on your household, so calculate it rather than simply buying a couple of bottles and assuming that will be enough.' Sally encouraged households to 'look at what you already have, then work towards a minimum of seven days of food, drinking water and everyday essentials'.She insisted: 'You don’t have to buy everything at once. An extra item or two during the usual shop can build up a useful reserve over time.'Not everybody has spare storage space or money to spend on specialist equipment, and nobody should feel they need to buy an enormous emergency stockpile overnight. 'Build it gradually, start with the things your household would need most, and make sure you know how to use what you’ve stored.'For me, it isn’t about expecting a catastrophe. It’s about having options when something goes wrong, looking after the people who depend on you and making sensible preparations without fear or unnecessary expense.Ana highlighted the importance of tinned potatoes, explaining: 'They are particularly handy because they’re already cooked and can help make a meal more filling.'Join the discussionShould the government be urging us to prepare for disasters, or is this fearmongering that risks causing panic?What's your view?'You don’t have to call yourself a prepper to benefit from being prepared. You just have to begin with what’s practical for your own household.'Sally, who is running a two-day homesteading and preparedness weekend at the end of November in Lancashire, encouraged people to think about warmth and cooking, 'not just what they can put in a cupboard'.She suggested buying a portable butane gas stove if suitable for its intended location, a battery-operated carbon monoxide alarm and plenty of warm blankets, sleeping bags, extra layers of clothing and suitable bedding in case the heating fails. Sally, who shares practical knowledge about food preservation, traditional household skills, making things from scratch and preparing for interruptions to everyday life on her website, said: 'I’m particularly keen to show that you don’t need acres of land or a farmhouse to be more self-sufficient. 'We live in a town. There’s plenty you can do in an ordinary British home, even without a garden, and much of it can be done gradually on a modest budget.'Sally and Ana are part of the growing number of professional women across Britain becoming 'preppers'.Ana has been prepping for years but stepped up her efforts during the Covid lockdowns when she couldn't find baby formula for her newborn. The 41-year-old now has cupboards filled with flour, oats, lentils and other tinned goods, ready to cook from scratch for at least two months, alongside medicine and cleaning supplies.She welcomed the government's advice to the UK – but warned it doesn't go far enough, insisting that households should be encouraged to stockpile seven days' worth, or even two weeks, of food and water.'Having enough food to protect your family during a disruption isn’t selfish,' insisted Ana. 'There’s also a difference between gradually building a sensible reserve and panic-buying. 'In fact, if more households can look after themselves during an emergency, that could leave more support available for those who genuinely need it. Preparedness should also be about helping our neighbours and communities, not just ourselves.'She noted how 'unfortunately, prepping still comes with stereotypes of bunkers and doomsday scenarios, when for most of us it’s simply about being a little more self-reliant', adding: 'Households should take some responsibility for their own resilience.'However, she called for the government to 'continue investing in the infrastructure and emergency services we all depend upon and start being a little bit more transparent about the challenges ahead, as there are still people that think that the current state of the world is just fine and dandy'. Ana, who also tries to support food banks, keeps a 'well-stocked working pantry with everyday foods, including tinned goods, dried ingredients, beans, pulses and ready-to-eat options'.She added: 'I also have a medium-term pantry with a few extras of everyday foods and items and a long-term pantry with goods that can last a very long time. I also grow and preserve food, which forms part of our household resilience and extra pantry supplies.'All her vehicles have small packs of essentials inside, filled with water, power banks, warm clothing, waterproofs, snacks, a micro cooking stove and a water filter.'I believe in making use of the space you already have rather than needing a dedicated stockpile room. Cupboards, pantry shelves and other suitable storage spaces can all be useful. 'The important thing is keeping everything organised, stored correctly and rotated. I prefer a working pantry where we regularly use and replace our supplies rather than food sitting forgotten for years.'She added: 'I’d really like to emphasise that preparedness shouldn’t be a privilege reserved for people with spare money.'Some of the most valuable things we can do cost absolutely nothing. Learning useful skills, making a family emergency plan or exchanging contact details with neighbours can all make a difference.'She insisted that preparedness 'is really about softening the impact of unforeseen circumstances, rather than preparing yourself for the end of the world'.'Having a stocked pantry, knowing how to cook from basic ingredients, growing a little food and understanding where your food comes from - those things create resilience in everyday life and in my eyes that's what prepping truly is.'These are things people did for generations before supermarkets made us rely on weekly shopping. So none of it is a new concept, just a forgotten way of thinking for many.' Ana's guide to preparedness FOOD Ready-to-eat meals, tinned fish, meat, beans and vegetablesCrackers, oatcakes, peanut butter, nuts and long-life milkDried staples such as rice, pasta and oats, if cooking is possibleChildren’s favourite foods and special dietary requirementsWATERAt least three litres of drinking water per person per dayAdditional water for cooking, washing and hygiene, extra two litres per person roughlyClean, food-grade water storage containersWater purification tablets or suitable filter as a backupExtra drinking water for petsHYGIENEToilet roll, soap, hand sanitiser and wet wipesToothpaste, toothbrushes and personal hygiene productsHeavy-duty bin bags, cleaning supplies and disposable glovesBucket, secure lid and liners for emergency toilet arrangements if sewage services failNappies, sanitary products and other individual essentialsPOWER & LIGHTINGTorches, battery-operated lanterns and spare batteriesFully charged power banks and charging cablesBattery-powered or wind-up radioOptional portable power station for essential appliancesWARMTH & SAFETY Blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothingWorking smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarmsEmergency contacts written on paperSome cash MEDICAL KITFirst aid kit and suitable everyday medicinesEssential prescription medicationsCopies of medication lists and important medical informationBackup arrangements for essential medical equipment