By Oskar Björk, adviser to Kapsel and defence engineer at the Swedish Armed Forces
Let me tell you about an exercise I like to run.
I ask people to light a camping stove. Not during a crisis. At home, calm and relaxed, at the kitchen table. Most people who own one have never done it.
They pull it out of the box. Fumble with the fuel. Read the instructions with a furrowed brow. It takes five, maybe ten minutes before they have a flame.
Now imagine the same thing at three in the morning. In the dark. With cold fingers. With a child crying in the next room.
The problem then is not that you do not have a camping stove. The problem is that you have never lit one before.
We talk about what to own, almost never about what to know
There is something about preparedness that rarely gets discussed. We talk about what to own. Checklists, equipment, products. But almost never about what to know.
And it is the knowledge that makes the difference. Not the owning.
A water filter you have never tested is not preparedness. It is a hope. Candles in a drawer when you do not know where the matches are, that is not a plan. That is luck if it works.
Real preparedness is when you know you have what you need, know where it is, and know how to use it.
That is when something shifts inside you. You stop worrying. Not because the risk disappears, but because you know you can handle it.
The anxiety sits in the not knowing
I meet a lot of people who are anxious. About the war in Europe. About cyberattacks. About climate change. That is not strange, we live in a time that gives us reason to be.
But the anxiety is almost always greater in those who have not done anything than in those who have. Not because the prepared know more. But because they have an answer to the question "what do I do if something happens?"
That question is what gnaws at you. Not the thought of the power going out, but not knowing what you would do if it did.
A Swedish government survey from 2024 showed that only 30 per cent of Swedes know what is expected of them in a crisis or war. Three in ten. The rest know that something is expected, but not what. MCF sets out the expectation in plain terms, and we go through it in the seven-day recommendation.
That is an insecurity in itself. Feeling like you should know something you do not.
And it is amplified by the fact that we live in a society where almost everything works all the time. We are not used to things breaking down. So when they do, when the power actually goes out, when the water actually stops coming from the tap, it is not just inconvenient. It is unsettling. Because we have no routine for it.
Test your equipment. At least once.
That is why I always say: test your equipment. At least once.
Light the camping stove some evening. Make coffee on it. Turn off the lights in your flat for an hour and see what it feels like to navigate with a headlamp. Let the kids join in, make it a thing rather than a drill.
It sounds small. But it changes something fundamental. You go from owning things to knowing how to use them. From hoping it works to knowing it does.
And that feeling, of knowing, that is security. Not the kind that comes from the world being safe. The kind that comes from knowing you can handle it even when it is not.
Real preparedness is not about whether something happens. It is about how well you can act when it does.
Common questions about practising your home preparedness
How do you test your home preparedness?
Start simple: light the camping stove and boil water. Turn off the lights for an hour and use a torch. Try listening to a battery-powered radio. The goal is to know that your equipment works and that you can operate it without reading instructions under stress.
Why is it important to practise preparedness?
Equipment you have never tested is not reliable under pressure. In a crisis it is dark, cold and stressful, and that is not the time to learn how the camping stove works. A short practice run in calm conditions means you can act quickly when it matters.
How often should you review your preparedness?
At least once a year. Check that batteries work, that water and food have not passed their best-before dates, and that your power bank is charged. Many people set an annual reminder around National Preparedness Week in September.
What should you do during a power outage?
First: light candles or a headlamp for visibility. Then: turn on a battery-powered radio and listen to your local station for updates, and check krisinformation.se while the internet still works. Keep the fridge and freezer closed to preserve the cold. Use a camping stove for cooking. Put your phone in aeroplane mode to save battery.
Oskar Björk is an adviser to Kapsel and serves in the Swedish Armed Forces. Every component in Kapsel Core comes with a guide explaining exactly what it does and how to use it. Because preparedness is not about owning the things. It is about knowing how to use them.