Our house went without power for a few days due to a snow storm, and I have a few observations: 

1. People rushed to buy ice so the food in their refrigerators wouldn't spoil.  Just put your food in the snow, dummies.
2. The main problem with an all-electric house is no backup heat source.
3. We sometimes pay for the privilege of living without electrical power.  It's called camping.
4. The only times we've ever lost power or water was when our sink was full of dirty dishes.  Thus, preventing power and water outages is as easy as always doing dishes.
5. Using a generator to power a space heater was nice.  Using said generator to power an Xbox and a flat screen was even better.
6. Driving on streets with non-working traffic lights and walking through stores with angry tired people makes you realize how quickly our society could unravel.  And that was after 24 hours.

Getting power back after 48 hours was like a gift from God.  It's stupid how much we depend on that temperamental invisible force, but such is life.