Backups at home

Everything you have at home that you depend on should have a backup. Water and heat being two big ones off the top of my head. Those of us in a Northern climate are more dependant on heat than those of you in the south, but heat is essential for cooking and your mental health.
Make an assessment of your home and your family. What would you do if all utilities were cut from your home? Water should be at the top of your priority list. The professionals state that 3 liters of water per day per person is the minimum, while many suggest that 1 gallon will not only provide drinking water, but water to cook and clean as well. A family of 4 x 1 week = 28 gallons of water. The biggest issue with water that I've run into has been rotation. Its easy to fill a 55 gallon food storage drum with water, its not easy to get that water back out, or move the drum if you need to. Water storage containers should be drained, cleaned and refilled at least every 3 months. I store my barrels in the basement and draining them means many trips upstairs unless you have a pump or have positioned the drum ahead of time where it can be drained.
My solution is still a work in progress. Two fifty five gallon drums plumbed directly into the cold water line of my house (in the basement where they wont freeze in the winter) with a Toilet style float valve that lets water in as needed. I have a RV style 12 volt pump on the outlet side that is a "pump on demand" connected to my main bathroom toilet tank upstairs. Whenever the upstairs toilet is flushed, the pressure releases on the line, the RV pump kicks in and refills the toilet tank. When the level of water in my barrels goes down, the valve from the main line opens and refills the tank. This continually rotates the water in my tank making it nearly maintenance free. Should there be a disruption in water service, I close the main valve to the outside and can use the RV pump to access the water as needed. If you know that there is going to be a disruption in water for an extended period of time, its always a good idea to shut the water off anyway to keep the water in your pipes from draining back into the system. Also, place a plastic garbage bag over the drain in your bathtub and all your sinks and then fill them with water for emergency use.
Once your main valve is shut off, you can still access the water left in your pipes by opening the lowest valve in your home, you may have to open another valve higher up to let air in.
As far as a back-up heat source goes, There are not many choices. Wood heat is ideal in my home because my property borders on forest service land and wood is readily available. Not everyone has this luxury. Problems to overcome are fuel, circulation and venting. A propane or diesel fuel heater can work in a pinch, but you must be able to vent the carbon fumes to the outside. I have gas heat in my home as the main source, so a generator connected to the furnace will work as long as the natural gas supply is not interrupted. A propane furnace with a tank near your home would work with a generator as well. Each individual will have to access his or her own situation and budget and then make adjustments as nessesary. The benifits of a wood stove are that you can cook on it and the sight of a fire has a calming effect to a worried group. Also there is no generator needed or gasoline to feed the generator.
High dollar solutions are solar or Geo-thermal pumps, neither is of any use in my area so I have not researched into it.