How much cash to keep at home, and which papers to copy

The table: what each country says

Most official kit lists include cash. Five authorities in Europe also say how much, and they don’t measure the same thing: some count three days, some a week, some per adult and some per head.

The figures are closer than they look. Denmark’s 250 kroner is three days of food at what an average Dane spends, about 70 kroner a day, rounded up;⁷ Sweden’s 1,000 kronor is a week of essential shopping per adult, worked out from the consumer agency’s figures for what a household spends on food.¹⁵ Both banks say the figure is a guide, and the Riksbank adds that a smaller amount still helps.⁴ What the money is for is plainest in the Dutch advice: water, food and transport in the first 72 hours, with the amount raised for a pet’s food or medicines.¹ If your country gives none, borrow the nearest one that matches your days: Britain, Canada and Finland count three, as the Dutch and Danish figures do.

Which notes, and why small ones

Card machines and cash machines need power and a network, and the ECB described what happened in Spain’s blackout of 28 April 2025: many card terminals, cash machines and mobile wallets were widely inoperable for hours and only fully restored the next morning, while banknotes kept working.¹⁶ Ready.gov makes the same point for the US: small bills, because ATMs and credit cards may not work during a disaster.¹⁰ What else stops working in a power cut, and what to keep for it, is in how long the fridge and freezer keep food in a power cut.

Keep a payment card too: Denmark’s checklist pairs the cash with a physical card and a PIN you remember.¹⁸ And you don’t have to draw it all out this week. The Dutch central bank suggests putting a little aside over the coming months.¹ Where to keep it is the one thing the authorities leave to you: “in a safe place”, Ready.gov says, and no more.¹⁰

The papers: what to copy, where each copy lives

The documents lists agree more than the cash figures do. Germany’s BBK is the most precise about originals: family certificates stay in the original, while ID, passport and driving licence go in as plain copies; it also says to ask the issuing office whether a document has to be kept as the original or as a certified copy.¹⁹¹²

Three sets in three places is what the lists add up to. The folder at home, where everyone knows it is; a digital set, which FEMA’s financial first-aid kit says to keep password-protected; and one set outside the house, which the BBK suggests leaving with relatives, friends, a notary or a lawyer, and the Australian Red Cross simply calls “one place outside your home”.²⁰¹⁹²⁵ Paper still matters for the phone numbers: Be Ready asks for them written down and kept somewhere easy to find in a power cut, with your regular medicines and the insurance details beside them.⁹

A bank safe deposit box is on several of these lists, with one catch: the FDIC says most aren’t waterproof, and suggests sealing the papers in waterproof bags.²⁶ Spain’s family guide asks for the same in the kit itself, copies in waterproof sleeves.¹⁴

What no authority says

None of these authorities plans the cash for longer than a week or two, and none tells you where in the house to put it. The Bank of Finland says outright that keeping large amounts at home isn’t advisable.¹³ The figure you will see quoted as the ECB’s advice, €70 to €100 per person, is the ECB summing up what the Netherlands, Austria and Finland say;¹⁶ the Bank of Finland’s own page gives no euro figure.¹³

The rest of the kit

Cash and papers are one shelf of a kit, and they travel in the bag: what else goes in it is in the go bag list. If you’re starting from nothing, prepping for beginners puts the jobs in order, and one of the first is making sure a warning reaches you, which is the subject of emergency alerts on your phone. For the food, one main such as Chicken & Rice is a meal, the One-Day Ration is a day, and the 72-Hour Food Reserve covers 3 days.

From our range

72-Hour Food Reserve

3 days of food in 9 pouches, 1,976 kcal a day.

€112.90Hear from us before the shop opensSee the box