I agree w/you, AuntB. When I was in grad school, the other students would laugh at my 72 hour preparedness plan. 'We're in the city, what's going to happen?' Well, what can happen is that you get sick and can't go out to get food (and none of your broke grad school friends can buy any for you). Or that the power goes off. Or that the weather makes it difficult for you to get out.
Now that winter has begun here in corn country, we've just stocked up for at least a month, longer if I don't make 'meals' and we just eat what's here w/o getting fancy about it. This doesn't count the water and food stored in the basement. It can snow, it can ice, but we'll have food and fireplace logs. The one thing I don't have is a generator, but I'm working on that.
Check the pawn shops for generators. Alot of people have been pawning items they don’t use much because things are a bit tight.
And if you see one at a pawn shop you like, MAKE SURE they fire it up and test it for you, and NEVER pay the listed price, they will almost always take a reasonable offer.