I'm thinking solar panels. Just enough too keep the bare minimum running.

The cheap ones will only run for 100 hours or so before needing oil changes and such. Way better to get a LNG or propane (or tri-fuel) model. Yes indeed they need fuel. Test your fuel burn and decide how long you will use it and how.
Run a few hours in the daytime, charge batteries, cool off fridge and freezer then shut down and go silent.
With a big inverter connected there's an almost silent genny sitting in your driveway right now .......
Gas will store for about a year, maybe 2 with stabilizer. 3 - 6 months without. Diesel about twice that. Have some cans and rotate them through your car regularly. I don't keep that much (1 full tank) on hand at the moment but I also have very small power needs and my car is a diesel - I can go a long way on one tank (900km). I do have a generator but have no plans to use it. I'll connect the big inverter to the car battery and idle the car for what little I need. It only burns 1/2 liter per hour.

I decided early on to have little need for power if the grid craps out.
I don't have a huge freezer, I can cook up and eat everything there in a week or less. Most all of my food is stable, dehydrated or freeze dried so I don't need to keep the fridge running if and when.
Wood stove for heat in the winter (and why do you need a fridge or freezer at all then?) - again no power needed.
Solar powered spotlights and garden lights. A deep cycle battery that can charge by grid or my car will run LED or CFL lights for a long time if needed

Fishin_E,

To each their reasons for prepping. But the way I see it, someone just prepping for Doomsday may kick him/herself when every day emergencies happen. Maybe your generators may not be handy for long term situation, but you might sure appreciate their value during a Quebec Ice Storm type situation or even during your next power outage. As for fuel storage, it's really up to you. Preparedness gurus would tell you to bury and underground tank with millions of litres (I'm off course exaggerating here), but a couple of gas cans will better than nothing. Remember to cycle your cans regularly (e.g.: use the gas to fill your vehicle every few months and refresh your stored fuel) or use StabIl if you want to just store the gas for a year or two.

If you run your generator smartly (a couple of hours a day to run the fridge/freezer, charge up power tools, catch news on tv, run the sump pump...) you can really stretch your stored gas for quite a while. It may also be worth to buy a syphon so that if you have more than one vehicle, you could use the gas in that vehicle' stank too - assuming it doesn't have an anti-syphon valve. Finally, I'm sure you've already thought about that, but a little maintenance goes a long way with generators. Buy some spare oil and also give your new-to-you a good oil change and clean .

Edit: ok, I was too slow to post and Perfesser must have posted while I was typing... Oh well, I'll leave the post here, I see there are no big inconsistencies in our replies so that's good.

Perfessor brought up an important point about charging a deep cycle battery with your car, and I just wanted to clear something up about that.
To charge this way, would you simply connect the deep cycle to your car battery with a set of jumper cables and idle the car until charged, or is there something special you would have to do?
I also have the car and inverter system, although I need to upgrade my inverter as I only have a 400 watt at this point...A minimum of an 800 watt would be needed if you plan on running a fridge or pump this way.
I also have a generator...champion 7800 watt. This is surge power only though and is rated at 6500 watt peak, and 5800 watt continuous.
The plan is, as others have mentioned, to run for a couple hours a day to cool the fridge, charge batteries and devices, then run silent that way.
I have done some testing with mine and calculated that using it this way, a full tank on the generator along with 100 liters (5 jerry cans) in storage will last me about a month.

You can just connect jumpers to the deep cycle battery and it will charge but not optimally and may well overcharge it. Alternators don't regulate the charge rate very well for the way deep cycles are built. Car batteries are made to dump their charge fast, deep cycles are made for a slower draw. Same for recharging and the faster you recharge the harder it is on the battery. It's not as efficient time wise but deep cycles charge best with modern "intelligent" chargers.
I heard the best ones are Schumacher chargers.

Watch Canadian Tire, they often have good sales on big inverters. I got the 1500w but you need to hook it directly to the battery with big cables.
I figure an inverter for a few hundred $ is about as good as a genny that never gets started or run regularly. At least my setup works when I need it.
Again though, I set up my operation so I do without grid power at all if needed. Those who have high maintenance lives (or wives) may need a different approach.

I decided early on to have little need for power if the grid craps out.
I don't have a huge freezer, I can cook up and eat everything there in a week or less. Most all of my food is stable, dehydrated or freeze dried so I don't need to keep the fridge running if and when.
Wood stove for heat in the winter (and why do you need a fridge or freezer at all then?) - again no power needed.
Solar powered spotlights and garden lights. A deep cycle battery that can charge by grid or my car will run LED or CFL lights for a long time if needed

This is my plan as well. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of going with far less power. Washing clothes with a portable powerless washing machine and hanging them to dry, trying to go without a fridge for a period of time or at least in the winter, or not using lights at night. Obviously in the winter, we'll still use heat. Until I get into the country and can use a wood stove, there is only so much I can do in the winter in the city. At any rate, I am planning for how to live without power and I am also toying with the idea of getting a smaller solar panel setup that can can be used to make some things work. I need to do a lot more research on all of this, though.

I'll make sure to have enough oil for a few changes on hand as well.

My goal as well would be to require very little electricity, and as Perfessor noted, refrigeration is not needed in the winter, however, We currently buy bulk meat, including a half pig, quarter cow, so refrigeration is very necessary for these items.

I guess it will be much more handy for a short or medium term event.

I hadn't thought about the inverter attached to the vehicle as much but very important to consider.

I will work out a gasoline cycling schedule and pick up some fuel stabilizer as well.

Thanks very much for the insight.