Good topic! I picked up my first generator in the mid 90’s after a rather severe and rare ice storm hitting and knocking out the power for 11 days. At the time I had 5 or 6 horses here (only a couple now) and water became an issue fairly fast as it was cold and outdoor troughs froze. I still have that gen as a back-up with a Honda as my primary.

If a major storm or Earthquake hit, I’d save my fuel for mainly the water pump, water heater and recharging as I have a wood stove for heat. I have acreage with a well ventilated shed a good distance from my house and barn that I store around 40 gallons but that wouldn’t go all that far either. I’d probably just use as much frozen and refrigerated food fast and then go to my pantry, especially if I thought I was in for a long-term outage. In a minor storm where power would be restored in a few days then I'd burn the gas on hand and try to save the food.