Often after you lose power due to an ice storm, a hurricane or another disaster it can take some time to have power restored to your home. There was a big ice storm about four years ago that hit North Carolina. Several million people lost power. It took three days for the power to be restored to our house. I knew other families that did not have power for over two weeks.
Unless you have a gas range, when the electricity goes out you lose your ability to cook for the family. If the roads are dangerous you do not want to have to go out to buy prepared food. You can only eat peanut butter sandwiches for so long. And there is nothing more unappetizing then a cold can of soup. Some simple preparation can solve most of these problems.
There are several ways that you can solve this problem. If you have a wood stove in your house, and it is in the winter you can at least heat up most canned food on the stove. You can also grill out on your barbecue. Another easy solution is to have a small propane stove. You can use this safely outside during times of emergency. This will give you a burner surface to work with and may make it easier to heat up soups or boil water.
I know one family who bought one of the nice big gas grills. This allowed them to cook and eat normally until their power was restored. You do not need to start out as elaborately as a big gas grill, but by thinking ahead you can utilize the equipment you already have on hand. You may need to purchase a propane cooking stove or a barbecue grill in order to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.