Lately, I'm thinking about buying a generator, mainly because in winter a big chill hits (I live in the South) and the possibility of losing electricity means the freezer, and all our meat would go bad. The last two winters we've had unusual cold snaps but have been lucky the power stayed on. In the future, I do not believe we will be so lucky. Both my sisters live in TX and they described the polar vortex of two years ago as awful. I've never been much of a prepper, but I'm also considering buying a survival box from Costco because I suspect at some point, groceries will become less reliable. As you point out, it's difficult to predict who will face disaster but the odds get worse each year for all of us.