Posh Preppers: How a well-stocked emergency store turned into a status symbol

How boujee is your apocalypse kit? It’s not a question I’d ever thought I’d have to ask, but a quick glance through my Instagram feed suggests that some of us are very much planning to traverse the end times in style.

Last week, the government rolled out their Be Ready campaign, encouraging British people to build up a three-day supply of food, water and cash – in case digital payment systems are hit by power outages or cyber attacks – as well as stocking up on other essentials such as wind-up radios and portable power banks.

And ever since, showing off your impressive survival stash has become the latest way to humblebrag on social media. Looking for a new way to feel bad about yourself? How about a spot of self-castigation over your failure to store up a sufficiently compelling array of picky bits to graze on during the end of the world?

The official advice is all pretty straightforward, suggesting that we focus on non-perishable goods that don’t require cooking in case of a blackout. Some of the survivalist-tinged videos that are cropping up on TikTok seem to take a more-is-more approach, with video clips of massive garage shelving units packed with supermarket value brand beans and huge plastic bottles of water.

Posts in this genre tend to be accompanied by doom-laden voiceovers, or front-facing camera monologues from frowning blokes who’ve apparently modelled their intense interpersonal manner on Ross Kemp’s Traitors stint.

Then there are the mum-fluencers who seem to be narrating their pre-Doomsday groundwork with the same blithely sunny tones that they’d previously used to share their school run routines. “Come with me to get ready for a national blackout!” they trill over the top of time-lapse videos of an expertly filled pantry, complete with a few cheeky bottles of Savvy B (last month, Angela Rayner admitted that her favourite wine will be going in her emergency kit, along with some mascara). If there’s anyone who can actually outlast the apocalypse, it’s these women – underestimate them at your own peril.

Most entertaining, though, are the contributions from the would-be posh preppers, who have been busy interpreting the official guidelines in their own special way, to the point of self-parody. If their approach had a motto, it would surely be: this is not just an apocalypse, it’s an M&S apocalypse. It’s a very 2026 scenario – some of us are genuinely stumped as to where we’re supposed to find the cash to stock up a hypothetical emergency cupboard, while others are applying the “little treat” mentality to armageddon…

Forget tins of Heinz and a few value packets of own-brand pasta. The middle class survivalists are going all out with Perello olives, fancy crisp breads and straight-to-wok noodles – all items that I’ve seen crop up in many “emergency essentials” posts over the past week or so.

For some reason, it’s the noodles that really got me – I love the idea of throwing a wok into your apocalypse grab bag along with the camping stove and the wind-up flashlight. When you’re not using it to knock up an on-the-go pad thai, it could double up for warding off wild beasts and marauders.

A ring-pull tin of butter beans doesn’t cut it for them, either. It has to be those delicious jars of Bold Beans, or at the very least, the slightly cheaper versions that some of the more well-to-do supermarkets have started doing. The various kimchis and other associated pickles that I’ve seen pride of place in these posh 72-hour kits get a free pass from my mockery though: just because the world might be on fire, it doesn’t mean you can neglect your microbiome.

We might not all share their Ocado budget, but perhaps the posh preppers have a point – that we should include stuff we actually want to eat in amongst our Doomsday supplies, rather than setting ourselves up for a dark, dull few days of eating pre-boiled potatoes straight from the tin for every meal.

I’ve now reached the point where I’ve consumed so much survivalist content that I’ve started looking at my past homeware choices differently. The sheer volume of wiggly tapered candles and scented tea lights that I’ve somehow managed to accrue over the years? Perfect for when the electricity goes out. The ridiculous amount of vases perching on my shelves? They’ll double up as water storage. Turns out I’ve been prepping all along without realising.

But on a more serious note, the way that our social media platforms work mean that it can be very easy to get stuck in a prepping doom spiral. It only took me a few scrolls to go from watching a TikTok girlie stocking up her cupboard under the stairs with candles, batteries and rosé to becoming hypnotised by a stern American woman decanting several kilos of bread flour into light and moisture-proof Mylar bags. One friend has confessed that spending time on PrepTok has prompted her to buy tens of litres of water, a gas camping stove and some solar charging lanterns. “It’s preying on my anxiety!” she says.

The more videos we watch, the closer the end times can feel, and the more stressed out we become about comparing our preparations to others. “As we all know, social media algorithms can often send us spinning into an echo chamber of ever more similar content,” says counsellor Georginia Sturmer, a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. “And then we find ourselves living in the worst case scenario before it has arrived.” We might initially start watching prepper videos as a way of arming ourselves with knowledge, but spend too much time down an apocalyptic rabbit hole, and it might end up “drawing you into an ongoing cycle of worry, where there’s always something else you feel you need to do”.

There’s a difference, Sturmer notes, “between making calm and rational preparations for an uncertain scenario, and becoming hyper-focused or obsessed with the idea of planning for an emergency”. If it “starts to dominate your thoughts, get in the way of everyday life [or] stop you sleeping at night, then it’s a sign that prepping might be fuelling, rather than soothing, your anxiety”.

She suggests that we should try to see preparation “for what it really is – a practical, organised activity that is designed to help you feel more in control” (rather than a means of mitigating every possible scenario… or of bragging about how fancy your pantry is). “Make a list, tick it off when you have completed it, then allow yourself to move on,” she adds. “If you treat it in this way, then you can reduce some of the overwhelm.”

It’s important, too, to “try to counteract the thoughts around prepping with time spent in the ‘here and now’”, Sturmer says. “Connecting with the present day, with the outside world, with the things that make you feel happy, can all help to reduce our sense of living in fear of the future.”

It’s advice I’ll be taking on board next time I find myself mindlessly scrolling through another alarmist video about water purification tablets. And if you think you saw me loitering around the beans and pulses aisle in my local M&S? No you didn’t…