Jonathan Grobe wrote:
We just had a ice storm and I had no electricity for 22 hours. I
was mostly unprepared and didn't like the experience at all.

What are you doing to prepare for this?

Nothing -- it's 66F outside. ;-)

Seriously, though, I usually prepare by making sure I have all my sets
of rechargeable batteries charged up so I can use them in a flashlight,
making sure I have some food I can eat without having to cook it,
and making sure I have some clean water just in case.

The biggest challenge is keeping frozen and refrigerated items good.
One approach for a short power outage is to just put some containers
(like old plastic milk bottles, or 2 liters from soft drinks) in the
freezer and let them freeze solid. One or two of the resulting
blocks of ice can be moved from the freezer to the fridge, and the
ones that stay in the freezer keep the thermal mass higher, which
means the temperature rises more slowly as the heat leaks in from
outside. It also helps to leave the fridge and freezer door shut
and never open them.

Of course, if it's already really cold, you can just move the food
outside, although in certain environments animals might steal it.

- Logan