Power. I went cheap and bought a deep cycle marine battery to go with a 300 watt inverter. In a pinch it'll charge with jumper cables from a car. So far we've mostly used it to charge and run laptops and run our neighbor's coffee maker. They bought a nice smaller Honda generator though.

Light. Target's Rock River LED Lantern is now our main backup light. At $20 I was tempted to buy them as Christmas gifts for others. I still want to pick up another one or two for our house. It's just so handy and perfectly safe. It meant the end of candles and other fire-based lights for us, though we still have some for backup. Cheap LED headlamps were another winner. Hand-crank LED flashlights or momentary-on keychain lights keep the kids happy without wasting batteries.

Food. I was surprised how badly we crave a hot meal after a day or two of no-cook food. We have backpacking stoves (white gas and alcohol) and use them, but I'd like something safer and more idiot-proof, especially around kids. That "something will go wrong" bit keeps me worried about cooking with containers full of flammable liquids.

Radios. I'm swamped with radios, being a ham, scanner listener, and shortwave buff. But our neighbors didn't have a single battery-powered radio (except their car), so we loaned them one.

Gas. Keeping the cars topped off is still a problem for us. At least we get some warning of when storms are coming, but there are still things that could pop up without warning. Driving on fumes is just a bad idea all-around.