Preppers reveal the important toiletries of their ‘go luggage’ as they prepare for when ‘catastrophe strikes’ – and the shocking £1.25 magnificence product that is included

Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more

Women who are preparing for when ‘disaster strikes again’ have revealed the surprising £1.25 beauty essential they pack in their emergency ‘go bag’ as the war in the Middle East causes a surge in stockpiling. 

Wife and mother-of-one Ana, based in Wales, has been prepping for years but stepped up her efforts during the Covid pandemic when she couldn’t find baby formula for her newborn. 

The 41-year-old now has cupboards filled with flour, oats, lentils, beans and other tinned goods, ready to cook from scratch, alongside medicine and cleaning supplies. She preserves her food by pressure canning and dehydrating.

All her vehicles have small packs of essentials inside, filled with water, power banks, warm clothing, waterproofs, snacks, a micro cooking stove and a water filter.

But the one aspect she often finds fellow amateur preppers forget? Toiletries – and even some much-needed personal hygiene products.

Ana, who founded the UK Preppers Club on Facebook, which has more than 10,000 members, revealed the essential items she includes in her emergency kit – often dubbed a ‘go bag’ by some in the prepping community.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she explained how her kit is kept ‘minimal and practical’ and noted the inclusion of a travel-size toothbrush and toothpaste, a small soap, a mini deodorant, hand sanitiser, packs of wipes, hair clips and sanitary essentials. 

The one surprising addition was a skincare product – a lip balm, which costs as little as £1.25 in some stores.

Ana, who has 32,000 followers across her Instagram and YouTube accounts, said all the essentials in the go-bag is kept ‘compact, lightweight and multi-use’.

She argued that keeping a supply of toiletries and skincare is almost as important as stockpiling food.

The prepper added: ‘This is where most people get it wrong. People focus on food and forget that poor hygiene leads to illness, illness reduces your ability to cope and morale drops fast without basic self-care.

‘In any disruption – whether it’s supply issues, illness, or even just being stuck at home – feeling clean is one of the most important morale boosting preps.

‘Don’t forget it doesn’t have to be the end of the world for you to potentially need to use something like camping wipes: no hot water or no water at all. All of that is a basic scenario that can happen any day.’

Ana revealed that the personal hygiene and beauty products that she stores at home are ‘nothing very complicated or different’ from the items she uses every day apart from soap bars, which she insists last longer.

She keeps three to six months of essentials, including ten soap bars (costing around £5), six to ten toothpaste tubes (£10 to £20), four to six shampoo bottles (£15 to £30), four to six deodorants (£10 to £20) and sanitary items, three to four months worth minimum (£15 to £25).

But Ana warned there are some items not worth stockpiling, including perfume, makeup in large quantities, products that require electricity and trend-based skincare.

She added: ‘You will be surprised by how little you can get by in desperate times. Back to basics I say.’

Donna Lloyd, also from Wales, believes stocking up on beauty products is an important part of prepping because it can aid wellbeing.

The 60-year-old – who now works in education after serving in the military – said it is good practice to add ‘one or two extra items each of makeup’ to your storage ‘because although beauty may not be essential in an emergency or crisis, it is part of the system which supports our resilience and mental health’.

She revealed how her emergency bag contains essential toiletries such as ‘wet wipes, a toothbrush and toothpaste and a travel towel’.

Donna, who runs a local preppers group on Facebook, insisted that how families or individuals safeguard against disaster is based on their own needs.

And while she doesn’t stockpile beauty products herself, she explained that it may be beneficial for mental health and could even prove useful in an emergency. 

She added: ‘The components of beauty may also possess secondary uses in a time of crisis. For example, a pair of tweezers, they also serve to extract a thorn or a splinter.

‘Vaseline and cotton wool are widely known components for starting a fire to help you keep warm or boil water and a mirror may be used to signal for help.

‘Prepping is about being prepared, but it is also about problem-solving, and reusing objects and items in our regular environment that can assist us to thrive and cope in a crisis.’

In Donna’s emergency bag, she includes a small gas camping stove and gas, a sleeping bag, a head torch, tins and a cutlery set, walking poles, a brew making kit, water canteens, a warm change of clothes, a first aid kid, a multitool and a fire making kit.

With concerns mounting over Russia’s war on Ukraine and now the US and Israel’s joint conflict with Iran, prepping is fast becoming a growing trend – and not just with middle-aged men who like to don cargo trousers, sit in their impressive bunkers and polish their weapons.

Plenty of women have now joined the movement, especially since the pandemic – and the latest conflict in the Middle East has seen mothers in the UK taking to prepper Facebook groups, asking where to begin when it comes to becoming a ‘doomsday prepper’. 

The extent to which preppers engage in the habit varies. At one extreme, there’s the doomsday preppers ‘readying for war and a complete deconstruction of society’ while others take a more moderate approach. 

Citing negative stereotypes of ‘grumpy middle-aged men surrounded by cans of food or in a bunker’, Ana insisted: ‘I’m not prepping for an apocalypse or zombie invasion.

‘Most of the things I prepare for are actually very ordinary. Economic pressures, price spikes, supply disruptions, storms, power cuts or simply times when life becomes more difficult financially.’

She insisted that preparedness ‘is really about softening the impact of unforeseen circumstances, rather than preparing yourself for the end of the world’.

‘Having a stocked pantry, knowing how to cook from basic ingredients, growing a little food and understanding where your food comes from – those things create resilience in everyday life and in my eyes that’s what prepping truly is,’ insisted the mother.

Ana continued: ‘These are things people did for generations before supermarkets made us rely on weekly shopping. So none of it is a new concept, just a forgotten way of thinking for many.’

The preppers she knows are just ‘ordinary, sane people’. 

‘Many are women, parents, families, people who simply want stability and security. They are gardeners, cooks, teachers, office workers, nothing like the stereotypes you see in films,’ said Ana.

She revealed that prepping is becoming more popular amid ‘global uncertainty’. 

‘When you know you have food in the cupboard, practical skills, and a plan if things become difficult, life feels less stressful. Preparedness is about removing panic from situations that might otherwise cause worry,’ she explained.

Donna, meanwhile, said ongoing events in Ukraine and now the Middle East have caused many to ‘reassess their safety and readiness’.

She suggested that some Britons would likely be furthering their knowledge of prepping after seeing the government’s apparent ‘lack of readiness and preparation’. 

Donna noted how a business in Powys, focused on the tools apparently needed for prepping (think anything from freeze dried food to axes, crossbows and gas masks), had seen a ‘significant uptake’ in online purchases and in-store visitors recently.

Her earliest memory of prepping was when as a child, her grandmother gifted her a paperback book about survival after having lived through the uncertainty of both World Wars.

But it wasn’t until after the pandemic when Donna started becoming an enthusiastic prepper.

‘Our electricity went off and a neighbour brought a camping stove to enable us to make a cup of tea,’ she recalled.

‘In that moment I saw how such a simple object meant the difference between the ability to make hot drinks and food and even being able to purify water, and being vulnerable and helpless.’

Donna now has supplies at the ready and keeps three months worth of food (including soups, stews, dried milk, sugar, tea and coffee) in the house, as well as some in her van.

She insisted that prepping is no longer for the ‘paranoid, isolated individuals’ – instead it’s for the mothers, fathers, teachers, people who want to keep themselves and their families safe if another disaster strikes.

‘More and more the message to prep is coming across from Eastern Europe, places like Poland and Finland, who neighbour Russia, and whose prepping and readiness both as individuals and families also extends into the community and is a part of instilling a feeling of unity,’ said Donna.

She said she doesn’t want to feel like she needs to carry around a bag filled with essentials or stock up on food and would much rather the world be more peaceful. But she warns: ‘Prepare, be ready for the unexpected, but get on with living and enjoy life.’