Running appliances during a Power Outage
A word of warning though. You CANNOT just "plug the generator into an outlet", because 1) when you do that without isolating your house from the now dead utility lines, the power from the local generator will go backward and try to power up EVERYTHING on that line, which might KILL a line worker trying to fix it; and 2) WHEN (not if) the utility power comes back on and the generator is running without being isolated, it could damage the electrical system in the entire house AND fry the generator.

Hire a professional to install it correctly and per code using a "transfer switch" sytem of some sort. it doesn't need to be automatic if that's too expensive, but there MUST be something that meets code in the system. It's literally a matter of life and death.