We have the canned goods, the dry goods, the water filter, the ammo, an emergency trunk filled with everything you can think of—drugs, first aid, lanterns, etc.
But I’m sitting here in the dark for hours after a transformer blew in our small village. Totally failed our dry run. I can’t get the lanterns working. Our batteries seem corrupted and I don’t have the right kind of batteries in some instances. And I need a lantern that uses another kind of energy too.
Big fail! I’m off to Home Depot when the lights come on to truly get prepared. Glad this happened today. I thought we were in good shape. Didn’t make it an hour.
Those units are quite pricey...so in working up a budget/savings plan, it can help to factor in the tax credits available on the larger units (3000 kWh and up) through the green or clean or whatever energy tax credit program (which I hope DJT leaves in place through 2032).
But if you save, calculate the tax credit, and buy on sale, this can be a sound backup technology.
One of the last things my darling and I did together in the spring was build a system that can power selected household circuits via plugging into our transfer switch. We've always had a gas generator, but hauling out/firing that loud thing up and burning fuel to generate, say, just enough juice to power fans to push woodstove heat down the main hall, or recharge a fridge, is ridiculous.
That's one of the great things about the "solar generators." You only use the electrons you need.