What’s the cost of these half baked solutions? My cursory search shows about half of that or more.

You can go as far down the rabbit hole as you want. Most people don't have anything critical that needs to have power 100% of the time, a few hours without power won't hurt your fridge. The odds that the power goes out for long while you are on vacation is low enough that you can ignore it - besides most people tend to have less in their fridge when they go on vacation.

Where on the risk spectrum do you fall? I have a battery backup sump pump because I learned the hard way what happens when the power goes out and the generator doesn't start. If I fixed my generator though I'd have an automatic system that would run my sump pump, furnace, fridge, well, water heater, lights, computers, range, - and lots of other useful things as well so long as I'm careful about I run at the same time (anyone know how to fix a 1970s generator?)