Off-Grid & Survival
Off-Grid & Survival
Live more self-sufficiently and be ready for anything. Off-grid power, water and heat, and practical UK prepping.
This covers energy and resilience for a British home or smallholding. Solar and battery sizing, rainwater and water systems, and food storage that actually holds up. Expect numbers matched to UK light and UK winters, not the sunbelt assumptions that make most solar advice useless here.
British solar has a perception problem the maths doesn't back up any more: 1kW of south-facing panels still generates 850 to 1,000kWh a year in mainland UK, and a household battery pushes self-consumption from around 30% up to between 65 and 80%. The cheapest and best entry point isn't a full domestic install. It's a few hundred pounds of panel, controller and battery on a shed or workshop, which teaches the whole DC side of solar before you commit to the roof. We cover water and food storage with the same climate-first approach.
Start here
New to this? These come first.
- Step 1Read guide
Building an Emergency Food and Water Store on a Budget (UK)
- Step 2Read guide
How to Prepare for a Power Cut or Winter Blackout (UK)
- Step 3Read guide
A UK Household Emergency Kit and 3-Day Resilience Plan
- Step 4Read guide
Natural Building: An Introduction to Low-Impact Self-Build in the UK
- Free toolOpen the tool
What size power station do you need?
Work out what a portable power station will actually run in a UK power cut. And what it flatly won't. Built on UK 13 A socket limits, not US guesswork.
Explore by area
Everything, sorted into areas.
- 5 guides
Heating & wood
Heating your home with wood in the UK: choosing a stove, seasoning firewood, staying legal in a smoke control area, and clearing up the log burner ban confusion.
- 1 guide
Water butts & rainwater
Everything on water butts and rainwater harvesting for UK gardens and homes: how to choose, size to your roof, keep it clean through winter, and go whole-house.
- 3 guides
Wells, boreholes & filtration
Everything you need to supply your own water off-grid in the UK: rainwater harvesting, boreholes, wells, springs, filtration, storage and the legal side.
- 5 guides
Power
Generating your own power off-grid in the UK? Compare solar, wind and batteries honestly, with realistic output, real costs and what actually works here.
- 3 guides
Prepping & Resilience
Practical UK preparedness without the drama: a household emergency kit, getting through a winter power cut, and building a food and water store on a budget.
- 5 guides
Getting Started Off-Grid
Beginner guides to off-grid living in Britain: the law, the land, power, water, heat and waste, with honest costs and no romance.
- 4 guides
Legal & Planning
The UK law on living off-grid: caravans and tiny houses, council tax, planning permission for a rural self-build, and the Welsh One Planet Development route.
- 3 guides
Sanitation & water
Practical UK guides to off-grid sanitation and water: composting toilets, waste rules, water systems and staying legal and safe when you go off mains.
- 2 guides
Shelter & Self-Build
Low-impact self-build in the UK: natural building methods and materials, and what shipping container homes really cost, insulate like and need for planning.
- 1 guide
Connectivity
Internet and mobile signal for rural and off-grid homes in Britain: what genuinely works when the mast is miles away, from 4G routers to satellite.
Heating & wood
Heating your home with wood in the UK: choosing a stove, seasoning firewood, staying legal in a smoke control area, and clearing up the log burner ban confusion.
Heat Pumps for Off-Grid Homes, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (UK)
6 min read
Off-Grid Hot Water and Showers: Heating Water Without the Mains (UK)
6 min read
Wood-Burning Stove Regulations in the UK: The Complete Guide
6 min read
Is There a Log Burner Ban in the UK? Wood Burning Stoves and the Law Explained
8 min read
Water butts & rainwater
Everything on water butts and rainwater harvesting for UK gardens and homes: how to choose, size to your roof, keep it clean through winter, and go whole-house.
Wells, boreholes & filtration
Everything you need to supply your own water off-grid in the UK: rainwater harvesting, boreholes, wells, springs, filtration, storage and the legal side.
Power
Generating your own power off-grid in the UK? Compare solar, wind and batteries honestly, with realistic output, real costs and what actually works here.
Backup Generators for Off-Grid Homes (UK): Sizing, Fuel and Safe Use
6 min read
Home Battery Storage for Off-Grid Living (UK): Chemistry, Sizing and Safety
6 min read
Small Wind Turbines for Off-Grid UK Homes: Do They Stack Up?
8 min read
Off-grid solar power in the UK: an honest beginner's guide
9 min read
Prepping & Resilience
Practical UK preparedness without the drama: a household emergency kit, getting through a winter power cut, and building a food and water store on a budget.
Getting Started Off-Grid
Beginner guides to off-grid living in Britain: the law, the land, power, water, heat and waste, with honest costs and no romance.
Legal & Planning
The UK law on living off-grid: caravans and tiny houses, council tax, planning permission for a rural self-build, and the Welsh One Planet Development route.
Planning Permission for an Off-Grid or Rural Self-Build Home in the UK
6 min read
Tiny Houses and Caravans: The UK Law on Living in One
6 min read
Do You Pay Council Tax Living Off-Grid? The Honest Answer
6 min read
One Planet Development in Wales: the low-impact, off-grid route to planning permission
6 min read
Sanitation & water
Practical UK guides to off-grid sanitation and water: composting toilets, waste rules, water systems and staying legal and safe when you go off mains.
Shelter & Self-Build
Low-impact self-build in the UK: natural building methods and materials, and what shipping container homes really cost, insulate like and need for planning.
Connectivity
Internet and mobile signal for rural and off-grid homes in Britain: what genuinely works when the mast is miles away, from 4G routers to satellite.
Kit we rate
The tools and equipment we'd actually buy ourselves. No sponsored placements, no filler. This shelf is being stocked.
We may earn a small commission on links above, at no extra cost to you. We only list kit we'd use ourselves. No sponsored placements.
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Every step out of the system
One short email, weekly. The week's best guides, what to do on your patch, and the next small step out of the system.