The most common question people ask about keeping supplies at home is also the simplest: how much is enough? The honest answer depends on how many people live in your home, how many days you want to be covered for, and, in the UAE, what time of year it is.
Recent government guidance in several countries suggests keeping around three days of food and water as a sensible baseline, and building it up gradually rather than all at once. We agree with that approach. Three days covers the great majority of everyday disruptions, from a building water shut-off to a day of heavy rain, and it is easy to store in a normal home without it taking over a room.
This page gives you a calculator to work out your own numbers in about thirty seconds, then walks through how to store everything well in a hot climate and how to rotate it so nothing is ever wasted.
Your Household Calculator
Roughly what that looks like on the shelf
- 0 tins of beans, fish, vegetables or soup
- 0 kg of rice, pasta or couscous
- 0 boxes of cereal or oats
- 0 snack or cereal bars
- 0 ready-to-eat pouches (curries, tuna, lentils)
- 0 kg of pet food
The Quick Reference Table
If you would rather not use the calculator, here are the numbers for common household sizes over three days in the hot months. Subtract about 15 percent of the water for cooler months.
| Household | Water (3 days) | Food (3 days) | Simple meals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 adult | 15 litres | 6,000 kcal | 9 |
| 2 adults | 30 litres | 12,000 kcal | 18 |
| 2 adults, 2 children | 57 litres | 21,000 kcal | 36 |
| 2 adults, 3 children, 1 helper | 90 litres | 34,500 kcal | 54 |
Storing Food and Water in a Hot Climate
Most storage advice is written for temperate countries. In the UAE, where a car boot or balcony can pass 60 degrees in summer, the place you store things matters nearly as much as what you buy.
Keep it cool and indoors
An interior cupboard in an air-conditioned part of the home is ideal. Avoid garages, storerooms with no cooling, balconies, rooftops and car boots. Heat shortens the life of tinned food, softens plastic bottles and degrades batteries and medication.
Water: bottles beat homemade containers
Commercially sealed bottled water is the simplest option, and the best before date is printed right on the label. Keep bottles out of direct sunlight and away from strong smells and chemicals, because plastic can absorb them. If you store tap water yourself, use clean food-grade containers and replace it every six months.
Food: choose what you eat anyway
The best stored food is food your family already enjoys. Look for items that need no cooking, little water and no refrigeration: tinned fish, beans, chickpeas and vegetables, ready-to-eat lentil and curry pouches, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, oats, rice, pasta, long-life milk and snack bars. Add a few comfort foods, because familiar flavours matter most when routines are disrupted.
Think about cooking without power
Choose a few meals that need no cooking at all. If you do keep a portable cooker, use it only in a well-ventilated outdoor space, never indoors, and never leave it unattended.
A Five Minute Rotation Habit
Rotation sounds like a chore, but it is really just ordinary cooking with one small twist. Once you have your supplies, the routine is simple:
- Write the date. When you put an item on the shelf, write the best before month on the front in marker so you can read it at a glance.
- Oldest at the front. New purchases go to the back. When you reach for something, take from the front.
- Cook from the shelf. Once a month, make one dinner entirely from the shelf. It keeps the stock moving, and it shows you what your family actually enjoys.
- Replace as you use. Add whatever you used to your next shopping list, so the shelf is always full without a big shop.
- Twice a year, check everything. Pick two easy dates, such as the start of summer and the start of winter, to review water, medication, batteries and documents together.
Water has the simplest rule of all: check the best before date on bottled water when you rotate your food, and replace any bottle that has been in a warm spot or is past its date. Home-filled containers should be refreshed every six months.
What If I Want to Cover Longer Than Three Days?
Three days is a sensible starting point, and most households never need more. If you would like more comfort, a week or two of coverage is easy to build: use the calculator above with seven or fourteen days selected and add to the shelf gradually. Longer coverage works best when you rely on staples that store very well, such as rice, pasta, oats, tinned goods and dried legumes, and when you hold more of your water in a few large containers rather than many small bottles.
For families who prefer a built-in, permanent solution, with dedicated water tanks, proper ventilation and storage designed into the home, that is where a purpose-built safe room or family bunker comes in, and our long-term cost guide explains how storage and rotation work at that scale. Many families start with the simple shelf and decide later whether anything more makes sense.
Want to Talk Through Longer-Term Storage?
If you are curious about built-in water, food and power storage for your home, our team is happy to talk it through, privately and with no obligation.
Request a Confidential Consultation