Exact amount of food and water you need if WW3 breaks out and what happens next

Daily Mirror

26-06-2025

As the world teeters on the edge of World War III, one expert has called for the UK government to issue a survival guide to warn the public how to make it through the conflict
An expert has called on the UK government to issue a guidebook instructing the public on survival strategies in the event of World War III, including the amount of food and drinks we'd need to stock up on.
This follows the French government's decision to distribute a 20-page booklet, containing 63 measures, advising citizens on how to safeguard themselves and their families during various horrifying scenarios such as armed conflict, nuclear leaks, and natural disasters.
‌
Last year, amid escalating fears of a third world war, countries including Sweden, Finland, and Norway started circulating pamphlets urging their citizens to stock up on food and water in anticipation of a potential nuclear attack.
‌
The Swedish booklet, titled 'If Crisis or War Comes', was distributed to households nationwide, with five million copies of the 32-page guide providing detailed instructions on gathering supplies and seeking shelter in case of war.
It advised households to have food and water supplies at hand for any impending conflict. Finland also launched a government website outlining preparations for various disaster scenarios.
"An insecure world requires preparedness. The military threat to Sweden has increased and we must prepare for the worst - an armed attack," reads the introduction of the Swedish guide.
Professor Anthony Glees, a security and defence academic at the University of Buckingham, has strongly urged the UK government to follow in the footsteps of other nations by creating "a short, decently written booklet" to help the public prepare for potential warfare.
He told the Mirror: "It should stress at the outset, of course, that the whole of our national defence strategy is about deterrence, that our foreign policy is defensive not offensive and that if we become as strong as we now want to be, thanks to Starmer and his European colleagues and thanks (yes!) to the goading from president Trump, then WW3 can surely be averted."
‌
The professor emphasised that this guide should outline possible scenarios, including cyber attacks, drone strikes, and potential missile assaults.
Glees pointed out the country's lack of 'Iron Dome' systems around key cities. "The government would have to admit that we are woefully lacking in 'Iron Dome' systems round our key cities, as I understand we have five warships that could intercept incoming missiles but one or two are in the Gulf and one or two are being repaired.... We have no fixed systems at all," he claimed.
‌
"Everything to date depends on our Vanguard subs (in a decade to be Dreadnought subs) and their Trident nukes. If they are fired it will be Armageddon day so no survivors."
Discussing preparedness for a potential conventional attack, Professor Glees shared a practical approach: "But if, more likely, there's a conventional attack that's something we can prepare for - a week's supply of food, bottled water, paracetamol and loads of emergency Snickers bars as well as battery operated devices and a couple of charging units, loaded for a few days from the electricity supply which will probably be turned off."
Reflecting on his childhood drills for nuclear threats, Professor Glees recounted: "When I was a school boy, 70 years ago, we school kids were told to take cover under our desks, having painted the windows with sour milk to keep out the radiation. I think we were far more afraid of the headmaster than the Russians - it'll be different today.
"More like the hippies used to say in the 1960s you needed to do when 'the bomb' dropped: 'Bend over, and then kiss your ass goodbye.'".