My dad wired a subpanel into the house addition with the throw switch to run those essential circuits off of one of those 5000-watt generators.  It saved my cousin’s wedding shower and a few other events.  Now went to the 25kW auto-shutoff.

I am thinking about redoing the SEP in my house and adding a subpanel and transfer switch and outdoor generator plug.  Looks like $1000 of materials or less would do it.