A new report says households need eight days of food, not three: at the official three litres a person a day, a household of four needs 96 litres

Dutch preparedness advice has said the same thing for years: keep a noodpakket at home that covers the first 72 hours after a disaster or emergency, with water counted at three litres per person per day. A report commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture from the Clingendael Institute and Erasmus University more than doubles that: households should hold eight days of food, not three. The reason is not that disasters got worse but that supermarkets got lean. Supply chains run so efficiently that there is almost no buffer, and a cyberattack on a logistics system, a severe storm or a longer disruption can empty the shelves within two to three days. For anyone new here, with no family stockpile nearby and no certainty of getting an NL-Alert, it means one thing: count the cupboard tonight. Next step: settle the water first, then fill in the rest from the official list. (source 1, source 2)

• What the official list actually says: the noodpakket checklist on denkvooruit.nl asks for bottled water at three litres per person per day, long-life food that needs no heating such as nuts, tinned vegetables and dried fruit, a battery radio, a phone with a powerbank, a torch with spare batteries, candles and matches, a first-aid kit with instructions, disinfectant gel and hygiene items, blankets, a whistle to signal rescuers, cash, copies of identity documents, a list of important numbers, spare keys, a hammer, saw and wire cutters, plus medicines, baby food and pet food. It should be stored in a waterproof bag and checked for expiry dates every six months. (source 1)
• What the new report says: the researchers from the Clingendael Institute and Erasmus University, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, put the household figure at eight days rather than three. They suggest long-life, calorie-dense items that can be eaten without cooking, tinned beans being their own example, because a power cut takes away the hot meal. They also recommend that the government agree with supermarkets and suppliers to keep a minimum emergency stock in the warehouses they already have. (source 2)
• Why this is a Dutch problem in particular: the report points at a national contradiction. The country is one of the world's large agricultural exporters yet imports substantial quantities of soy for animal feed, fertiliser and fuel, so once a disruption runs long, exporting well does not mean eating well. The researchers also note that recovery is uneven: supermarkets can be restocked after a few days, but heavy rain can leave an area cut off for longer. That gap is the real difference between three days and eight. (source 2)
• One small thing to do now: denkvooruit.nl offers an official booklet on preparing for an emergency as a download, and it exists in languages other than Dutch, which makes it one of the few official documents you can hand straight to a family member whose Dutch is still thin. The same site opens its whole communication toolkit to safety regions, municipalities and other organisations. (source 3, source 1)

Work it out: water = people in the household x 3 litres x days. On the official 72 hours that is 9 litres for one person and 36 for a household of four; on the researchers' eight days it is 24 litres each and 96 for that same household. Translated into the six-by-1.5-litre packs on a supermarket shelf, which hold 9 litres, a family of four goes from 4 packs to 11, a difference of one shopping trip and one cupboard shelf. Do the food layer the same way: count how many no-cook portions your household really eats in a day, then multiply by eight. Do not buy it all at once; keep one extra layer of the tins, noodles and dried goods you already eat and rotate them on the six-month expiry check. (source 1, source 2)

Hokimi field note: start with the water, because it is the one item with no substitute and the one that takes up the most room, so decide where it goes before you buy it; for the food layer, there is no need for special emergency rations, since an extra layer of the tins, noodles and nuts you already eat is far easier to rotate. Do not forget the cash either, because a power cut takes the card terminals and iDEAL with it. Details from the official Denk vooruit emergency-kit checklist and toolkit pages of the Dutch government, and NOS's report on the study, checked on 20 September 2026.