One other thing about the inverter style generators, at least with Honda and Yamaha. The rating in the model number is the max surge. If you exceed this or the continuous rating, the inverter will shut down. You have to turn off the unit and restart it to get it back on. If you are going to get an inverter style generator, you want to be generous in your loading calculation and if in doubt go with the larger unit.
reading spec's ... used to think this exact logic. but with some careful startup/hooking up of electrical appliances. it's amazing what a little EU2000i can sustain.
max load occurs during startup ... if one carefully plugs in each appliance one at a time ... then allow EU2000i to recover from extra load sustained during each appliance startup. was able to run an amazing number electrical appliances all at the same time.
during an extended electrical outage, high possibility your fuel source could become scarce. at any given time, will have several 5 gallon fuel cans that's kept in rotation. folks with large propane tanks are most immune from fuel disruption. even natural gas lines can be disrupted during some types of natural disasters.
last extended outage in Tulsa was the epic ice storm that knocked out my power for 2 1/2 weeks. had trouble finding fuel ... gas stations need electricity to run pumps too. really drove home need to run the smallest genset possible.