Charlie,
Remember when a generator is needed gasoline may not be available because they are without power as well.
If you run a generator at half or less than half capacity, your gasoline / propane / diesel will last about twice as long. As an example, my generator runs almost 14 hours on 5 gallons of gasoline just running the frige, freezer, coffee maker, microwave, fans. If I tried to run the AC the generator would eat up 5 gallons of gas in about 6 hours.
I just use ours to keep food cold / frozen, recharge cell phones, run floor fans, provide television, make coffee, run power tools during daylight hours. Don't need the generator at night. Of course we don't have to worry about frozen pipes here. You yankees likely have fireplaces to keep the house at least bearably warm at night.
Use the gas grill to cook.
Use a 12 volt Marine / RV bulb at 75 or 100 watt for lighting. I rigged an extension cord to have battery clips to go on my car battery in the garage and then use a table lamp or clamp lamp for lighting at night. Start the car up the next day and recharge the car battery.
