I've got a cabin with 40 acres north of Rapids. I just run an inverter generator mostly just lights, microwave, toaster and cycle the freezer every so often in the winter. In spring I run the freezer a little more, but only using it for freezing hides when I can't keep up with putting them up. In the late spring through early fall I rarely need the lights so don't run the generator much unless I'm up late. I've thought about converting it to propane so then I wouldn't have to be so frugal with it, as the nearest gas station is 30 miles away. It's my cabin but I pretty much live there, got a 70 day stretch in plus most weekends and it works well for me and my family. If you have a spouse that likes the comfort of being able to leave the coffee pot on instead of using an insulated carafe, being able to turn on light in middle of the night whenever, etc, this wouldn't be the cheapest.
My neighbor a few miles down the road does an inverter generator paired with a solar setup. He runs both 120V lights and 12V lights. This is a good solution as you are constantly running through and inverter when all you need is lights, and get more time on a charge. The solar keeps up pretty well late spring through fall. Winter he doesn't spend much time there so he just runs the generator.
Edit:reread the post and see you're not looking to go completely off-grid. In that case get a generator and main interlock and run with it. I'm assuming you'll have a well, so keep that in mind for your pump inrush.