Agree not sure the Michigan skies provide enough value for large solar home coverage, but you may have also considered some of the more portable setups and a portable battery backup. This could serve multi-purpose for camping as well as some emergency power (phones, freezer, lights, etc.) for at least a little offset during power outages. That was one of our secondary goals, we typically by our meat from a local butcher rather than the grocery store, better quality and freshness, less preservatives and garbage in it. We will typically buy a quarter cow / pig and have it in the freezer. This would quickly spoil in just a day or two of no power here in hot Florida. The cost would easily be more than the portable solar and battery. It's saved our freezer meat at least twice last year from extended power outages during the storms.
That is a good point. We have a generator I bought several years ago and I have used that in the past. We buy a lot of our meat from the butcher too, then we vacuum seal it so we have protein ready whenever we need it. I just processed about 20 pounds of chicken Thursday night. There are a few houses around us that have solar setups, so I think it isn't totally unviable, but I am not sure if the up front expense makes sense in our current home.