I learned a long time ago that if you plop a 50-pound bag of rice into your cart at the Price Cutter in Springfield, people look at you like you’re about to feed an army or start one. That is why I take the slow and steady approach. One week it’s an extra can of green beans. The next week it’s a couple of jars of peanut butter. By the end of the year I’ve got a pantry that could keep Darlene and me fed through just about anything from a power outage to another one of those ice storms that lock us in for a week.

When I first started stocking up, I went too big too fast. Darlene came home from her book club one night and found five cases of bottled water stacked in the hallway because I hadn’t figured out where to put them yet. She looked at me, then looked at the water, and said, “Kyle, are we expecting a drought in the living room?” Lesson learned. Now I keep it quiet, keep it tidy, and most importantly keep it blended into the normal grocery flow so it does not look like I have lost my marbles.

Finding Space When You Don’t Have Any

The thing about modern houses is that they are not built for storing more than a week’s worth of food. Everything is designed to look nice, not to actually hold much. Our kitchen cabinets are already stuffed with Darlene’s baking gear and coffee mugs from every vacation we have ever taken. So I got creative.

In the garage, I built shelves from scrap 2x4s and old plywood. I measured the space so I could fit those big #10 cans of freeze dried food without wasting an inch. Under the guest bed, I have three long plastic bins full of pasta, flour, and sugar. They slide right out if Wendy and Steve come to visit, and they have never once noticed. Out in the shed, I have a big Rubbermaid tote with all the paper goods. Toilet paper is tricky because it takes up a lot of space, so I compress the packages and stack them like bricks.

Buying Without Breaking the Bank

I do not buy everything at once, partly because of money and partly because of that whole not-looking-crazy thing. If something is on sale and it is part of my regular rotation, I grab a couple extras. I watch the grocery ads every Sunday morning while I am having coffee. Darlene reads the lifestyle section, I circle “buy one get one” canned soup deals. It works out fine.

There is also the trick of buying in places where no one is paying attention to you. The feed store out on Highway 14 sells bulk oats cheaper than the grocery store, and they do not care if you buy a hundred pounds. I have also found that ethnic grocery stores are gold mines for staples like rice, lentils, and spices, and they sell them in big bags without anyone raising an eyebrow.

Rotating the Stash

The key to not wasting your stockpile is to eat from it. Everything has an expiration date, and I do not like surprises when I open a can. I keep a running list taped inside the pantry door with dates on it, and every couple months I do a little rotation. The older stuff comes to the kitchen, the newer stuff goes to the back. It is like musical chairs but with tuna and crackers.

I even have a little system for the freezer. Every time I put something in, I write the date on it with a Sharpie. Then when I am cooking, I grab the oldest package first. It is not glamorous, but it works.

Bringing the Family On Board

Wendy used to tease me about my “end of the world closet” until that winter when they lost power for four days in Oregon. They had Luke and Charlotte bundled in coats inside the house, Jasper curled up under the blankets with them, and Steve driving into town trying to find bread. She called me after it was over and said, “Dad, I get it now.” I sent her a couple boxes of gear after that, and she has been building her own little stash.

Even Darlene has come around. At first she thought it was just another one of my hobbies, like when I tried to learn the banjo. Now she sees the value in having what we need on hand, especially after that ice storm two winters ago when the shelves at the store were stripped bare.

If you do it right, stocking up just looks like living well prepared. And if your neighbor ever asks why you have a couple extra bags of beans in the pantry, you just tell them beans keep well and taste good. Simple as that.

This one is perfect for a chilly Missouri evening when you want something hearty without messing up half the kitchen. I like to make it in the cast iron Dutch oven because it holds heat like a champ and goes from stovetop to oven without fuss.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion chopped
3 carrots peeled and sliced into half moons
2 celery stalks chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (leftover roast chicken works great)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold butter cubed

Instructions
Melt the butter in your Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and cook until softened which takes about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook another minute.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Stir in the shredded chicken, thyme, parsley, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add the frozen peas and stir.

While that is simmering, make the dumplings. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Pour in the milk and stir just until combined. Do not overmix or the dumplings will be tough.

Drop spoonfuls of the dough on top of the simmering chicken mixture. Cover with a tight fitting lid and let it cook for about 15 minutes without lifting the lid. The steam will cook the dumplings through and make them fluffy.

Ladle into bowls making sure each serving gets a dumpling or two along with plenty of broth and veggies. This dish will warm you up right down to your socks.

Long before I was born, back on March 18, 1925, a storm tore through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana that still holds the record books. Folks call it the Tri-State Tornado, and from everything I have read, it was less like a twister and more like a freight train made of wind and splinters. It started in the early afternoon in southeastern Missouri, not far from Ellington, and then cut a path more than 200 miles long. Imagine a single storm chewing up farmhouses, schools, and whole main streets for over three hours without letting up.

The stories from survivors will stick with you. In Missouri, the little town of Annapolis was one of the first hit. The tornado was moving so fast, around 60 miles an hour, that people barely had time to react. There were no sirens back then, no Doppler radar, and not even a phone call from a neighbor if your line was down. Folks who were outside said they saw the sky go almost black in the middle of the day, and then the air filled with debris.

When it hit Murphysboro, Illinois, the damage was so bad the town looked like it had been bombed. Entire blocks were flattened, and what was not torn apart was on fire from broken gas lines. Schools collapsed while kids were still inside. The accounts from teachers and parents make your stomach tighten, but they also show the grit people had. Some walked miles over downed trees and wrecked tracks just to get to the injured.

Back in 1925, help did not arrive with FEMA trucks or Red Cross stations in the first few hours. It was neighbors pulling neighbors from rubble and farmers hitching teams of horses to wagons to haul the wounded to whatever building was still standing. Many rural families kept food cellars and root vegetables stored through winter, and that made all the difference in those first days. If your home was gone, you still had a stash to feed your kids.

Reading through the old newspaper clippings and weather service reports, the lesson is pretty clear. Warning time is gold. Those folks had almost none, and because of that, the death toll climbed to nearly 700. Even today, with all our technology, storms can still outrun the forecasts. The other thing I take from it is that having supplies where you can get to them fast matters just as much as having them in the first place. Plenty of people in 1925 had smokehouses full of meat, but if it was on the far side of a collapsed barn, it might as well have been a thousand miles away.

I keep a few bins in the garage right by the side door for that reason. If something big is coming, I can grab them and be in the truck in under a minute. A tornado moving 60 miles an hour will not give you time to dig through the basement for batteries. Those folks in 1925 learned that the hardest way possible.

This is one of those projects that does not take much time or money, but if you ever lose your main water supply, it can be a lifesaver. I put mine together one rainy Saturday when Darlene was reorganizing her quilting room, and I have kept it ready ever since. The beauty is it works with gravity, no electricity required, so even if the grid is down you can have clean drinking water.

What You Need
Two food grade five-gallon buckets with lids
A ceramic water filter kit (Berkey style filters work, but there are plenty of affordable off-brand ones)
A spigot with a washer and nut (available at hardware stores)
A drill with a hole saw bit that matches your filter’s stem size
A smaller drill bit for the spigot hole
Food grade silicone sealant

How to Build It
Start by marking the center of the bottom of one of your buckets. Drill a hole there with the hole saw bit to fit the filter stem. The ceramic filter will sit in this top bucket, and the clean water will collect in the bottom bucket.

Install the filter according to the instructions that came with it, making sure to use the included rubber washers so it seals tight. I like to add a thin bead of food grade silicone around the base just for extra insurance.

Next, take your second bucket and drill a hole near the bottom for the spigot. Install the spigot with its washer and nut, again sealing with silicone. This is the bucket that will hold your clean, filtered water.

Stack the buckets so that the one with the filter is on top, nesting inside the one with the spigot. When you pour water into the top bucket, gravity pulls it through the ceramic filter into the bottom bucket. You just turn the spigot to fill your glass or pot.

Pro Tips
If you want to speed things up, you can install two filters in the top bucket instead of one. It doubles the flow rate.
Always pre-filter dirty water through a t-shirt or coffee filter before pouring it into your system. It removes sediment that could clog your ceramic filter.
When not in use, keep the buckets sealed with their lids so dust and critters stay out.

I keep mine tucked in the garage with a couple extra filters in a zip-top bag. I have used it on camping trips, too, just to make sure I know it works. The peace of mind it gives is worth every penny, and if the tap ever goes dry, I know I can still keep the coffee pot going.

When Luke was about five, we had a windstorm out here in Oregon that knocked our power out for two days. It was nothing compared to the stuff Dad talks about, but it was enough to make bedtime interesting when there are no night-lights or sound machines. That was when I realized I had never really explained to the kids what to do if something bigger happened. I wanted them prepared, but I did not want them having tornado nightmares for weeks.

One thing I have learned is that kids respond better to routines than lectures. So we turned our “emergency plan” into a game. We made it like a scavenger hunt where they had to find flashlights, check the batteries, and bring them back to the living room. Charlotte got so into it that she made little labels for each flashlight with names like “Storm Light” and “Monster Blaster.” Now if the power blinks out, they both know exactly where to grab their lights.

I also keep small comfort kits for each of them in their backpacks. Nothing big—just a granola bar, a mini water bottle, a hand warmer packet, and a little toy or notebook. They know those are for emergencies only. It makes them feel like they have their own supplies just like grown-ups do.

We practice “what if” scenarios about twice a year, but we keep them lighthearted. Like, “What if the lights went out during dinner?” or “What if Jasper ran into the backyard during a storm?” We talk through the steps calmly, and I let them come up with ideas. Sometimes Luke’s solutions involve capes or Lego traps, but hey, he’s thinking through the problem.

The biggest change I made was moving our emergency supplies to places the kids can actually reach. Before, I had the first aid kit and extra flashlights up on the highest shelf in the pantry. Now I keep one low so Luke or Charlotte could grab it without climbing. If they ever have to use it while I’m outside or stuck on the phone with 911, they can.

Dad always says preparedness is a habit, not an event. For kids, that habit has to be built in small, safe doses. If you make it part of everyday life, they stop thinking of it as scary and start thinking of it as just something smart people do. And as a bonus, they really love showing off to their friends that they know how to use a headlamp.

This week’s challenge is simple to explain but will take you a little time if you do it right. I want you to figure out if you could feed everyone in your household for three full days without setting foot outside or using a single delivery app. No runs to the store, no borrowing sugar from the neighbor, no “we’ll just order pizza.”

Start by picking a normal weekday and pretending the store is closed. Walk into your kitchen and make a list of every food item you have that does not require refrigeration or freezing. Canned soup, pasta, rice, peanut butter, granola bars, and even those dusty cans of fruit cocktail count. Ignore the frozen stuff for this challenge because I want you to think about what happens if the power goes out.

Once you have your list, plan out three days of meals for your family. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. See where the gaps are. Maybe you realize you have enough dinner options but breakfast is a disaster because all you have is half a box of cereal and no shelf-stable milk. Or maybe you find you have plenty of carbs but no protein.

After you spot the weak spots, fix them. Next time you are shopping, pick up a few extra items that fill those gaps. Shelf-stable milk, canned chicken, instant oatmeal, and jarred pasta sauce are all easy wins.

Extra credit if you cook one of your “emergency meals” this week so you know how it tastes and how long it takes to make. Nothing is worse than finding out your big survival stew is barely edible when you are already stressed. By the time you finish this challenge, you will not just have a three-day pantry—you will have one that actually works for your household.