Outlook Reminders

Let me preface this thread by stating I'm an Access noob. However, I am fully capable of using the "search forum" section. Unfortunately, many of the answers given to somewhat similar queries are out of my range of understanding.

Here's what I am looking to do:

I work for a R & D company. My lab receives media and reagents of all sorts with various expiration dates.
We have an Access Database setup for what is in storage and from who... but it's really quite basic.

What I have been asked to look into is:

Is it possible to have Access automatically send an Outlook Reminder or Email based on the expiration date field within the database?

For example:

4 days to expiry of a Tryptic Soy Agar Plate, Outlook sends a reminder to the relevant people with a message that says something like:

Notice

You have <number of days until expiry> days until <item description> Lot # <lot number> expires.

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of course, i'm not even sure how to setup the email so it pulls the relevant information. I would be fine with it just sending out an email telling which item expires a set amount of days before.

um..
help please