what I did
the turmoil that went on here in the northeast following superstorm Sandy a few years back was a real eye opener.
Power was out for almost a week here where I live and gas stations were out of gas and people were near riot mode when they heard stores were getting generators in. Eventually I did get one of those gens but sold it right after the electricity came back on but determined to never be in that spot again, I went on ebay and found a guy from Long Island who was selling these badass Army Surplus generators on trailers. This one is a 30kw Onan diesel with under a hundred hours on it. These are pretty much lifetime use gens, real heavy duty and can power my entire home plus prob a few more with relative ease. All for about $3k delivered to me. What's also very nice is the portability so if, for instance, someone I know has a power outage it can go fix them up.
Something to consider for those who might be interested.
best,
brian kc