To choose the right emergency kit, judge any option against five things: does it cover a full week, is it complete across water, heat, light, communication and first aid, is it organised so you can act under stress, is the quality certified, and does it scale to your household. Sweden's Agency for Civil Defence (MCF, formerly MSB) recommends every household manage at least one week on its own. Here is how to choose.
Reviewed by Oskar Bjork, defence engineer (Swedish Armed Forces) and adviser to Kapsel. Last updated 2026-06-22.
Three ways to prepare
Build your own
The cheapest route and a fine place to start. You buy water containers, a stove, torches and a radio yourself. The risk is gaps: most people miss water purification, heating and communication, and lose track of what they have over time. Use a checklist so nothing slips. See our complete emergency-kit checklist.
Buy a ready-made kit
More convenient, packed in a box with a list. But many off-the-shelf kits are generic: thin on medical supplies, underpowered on energy, no instructions for using the contents under stress. Read the contents list closely before you buy, and compare our complete emergency kits against the five criteria below.
Choose a system
A system is organised by what you need to do, not by what fit in a box. Everything is selected to work together, certified, and documented. It costs more than a basic box, but it removes the gaps and the guesswork.
Five criteria to judge any option
- Coverage: a full seven days, per the MCF recommendation.
- Completeness: water and purification, heat, light, communication, first aid, hygiene.
- Organisation: can you find and use everything fast, in the dark, under stress?
- Quality: certified components, not the cheapest filler.
- Scale: does it fit your household, and grow with it?
Where Kapsel fits
The Kapsel Core is built as a system: three capsules (Energy and Light, Water and Health, Personal and Shelter) with over 30 selected, certified components, built to the MCF one-week recommendation and assembled in Boras by an ISO 9001 maker that also supplies Volvo and the Swedish Armed Forces. One system covers one to three people, and doubles at four or more. It is the simplest way to meet the recommendation without spending weekends sourcing and organising. See the Kapsel Core.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to build your own emergency kit?
Up front, yes. But gaps and replacing failed cheap parts add up, and the time to research and organise is real. A system costs more but removes the gaps and the guesswork.
What should a complete emergency kit cover?
Seven days of water and purification, food that needs no cooking, heat, light, communication (a radio for P4 and the VMA alert), first aid and hygiene, plus cash and copies of key documents.
How big a kit does my household need?
Scale water and food to the number and ages of people. One Kapsel Core covers one to three people, so a larger household uses two.
Related: how to get through a week without power and water and MCF's seven-day recommendation. Sources: MCF (mcf.se), krisinformation.se, Livsmedelsverket.
Price is part of the decision too. See what an emergency kit costs, and how to judge value.