Preparation also does not need to be expensive, but should be custom tailored to the situation.
I heard a nice suggestion which was to try turning off the electricty for a day and see what you would be missing.
One thing I was worried about was what if there is some flooding (although we're not exactly in a flood area) and the power is out, and the basement starts to fill up.
I found this the other day, a water-powered pump:
http://www.plumbingstore.com/mightymightpump.html
As long as the water pressure holds, it can be used as a pretty high capacity sump pump.
It's interesting, now that I think about it, my father was always preparing things for emergencies, in a low key way. He always had some surplus lead acid batteries charging around the house, and a volkwagen headlight to make a lantern. We had lots of flashlights hung around things in the house. There was powdered milk and spam in the pantry. There was a tin of survival biscuits in the basement which were salvaged from a city fallout shelter that was being demolished. And he liked gardening, but would only grow plants you could eat. We had several shortwave radios around the house (military Hallicrafters models) amongst other things -- he was trained as a radar operator in the Navy in WW II, so he could build a radio with stuff around the house if needed...
