A well-stocked pantry, rotated on a continual basis, makes for very sound sleep.
I’ve got a generator with a few extra jerry cans (with fuel stabilizer) and kerosene to power the hurricane lamps. (Yep, that’s what we call them in New England!) Buying a generator at the last second is rather pointless, since a generator without a Transfer Switch installed in the house isn’t good for much. (My Transfer Switch gives me back six of my circuit breakers when the generator is running. Furnace, water heater, refrigerator, coffee pot, etc. Every generator owner needs one.)
I was appalled to think that people were dumpster diving for food after only four days. Even if the story proved false, the possibility was there. What the hell did these people do during the days of warning before the storm? Ant and the Grasshopper.
You don’t need to be a whacko “doomsday” prepper to be prepared. Granted, I won’t be in very good shape in the event of a nuclear zombie apocalypse, but I can sure ride out a bad storm with subsequent power outage. In fact, we even put up a few relatives until the power was restored.
Look closely at the pictures. Those poor starving dumpster divers have huge smiles on their faces. They're laughing and having a grand time playing it up for the cameras.
I went the transfer switch route, too. Probably have the same one. With that and a 5.5kw gen set I can run everything but the central air. I added a tri-fuel kit to mine so I can run it on propane or natural gas in addition to gasoline.
You might want to look into one. It took me about an hour to install andit works just fine. One look at the lines at gas stations tells me it was a good purchase.
Good luck.