A big storm is in the forecast. You stop at the grocery store on the way home from work.

The bread aisle is empty. The milk is gone. The line runs back to the frozen food. Everybody had the same idea at the same time.

If your pantry was already stocked, you could have driven straight home.

Three days of food is a good start. Two weeks is better. Most emergencies are over by then, and you won't need the store at all.

You don't have to buy it all at once. A few extra things every time you shop gets you there in a couple of months.

Canned soup, chili, beans, tuna and chicken. Peanut butter, crackers, oats, nuts and dried fruit. Shelf-stable milk.

Pick food that needs no cooking, or just a little heat. Go easy on very salty food, because it makes you thirsty, and water may be short.

A manual can opener. A shelf full of cans is no good without one.

Medicine, baby formula and pet food. Paper plates, trash bags and wet wipes, for when there's no water to wash dishes.

A way to heat food, like a camp stove or a grill. Use them outside only, never in the house or garage.

New cans go to the back, old cans come to the front. Check the dates twice a year. An easy way to remember is when the clocks change.

They buy a big bucket of survival food and never open it.

It's expensive. It's often not what your family likes to eat. And it sits in the garage, forgotten, until the day you find out it expired.

A better plan is a slightly bigger version of the pantry you already have.

Two things. One shopping trip.

First, buy two extra of three things you already eat. Next time you shop, that's it. Do it again the week after.

Second, put a manual can opener in the pantry. Not the drawer. The pantry, right next to the cans.

Got a question, or a lesson from your own life? Hit reply. I read every one.

See you next time.

— Cole