So finding an open spot for a hot meal was the goal of many Monday - and it turned out, most found the same restaurant.
Cars lined up in the street outside one Burger King location.
The store was kept open by a skeleton staff doing their best to scramble to serve hot meals to hungry Houstonians.
"When you're hungry and cold with few options, waiting in line for hours for fast food doesn't seem unreasonable," one customer told our station KTRK-TV.
From morning to night, the line only grew as the day wore on.
At times, there were more than 50 cars in the line.
Another customer said, "We haven't ate a meal all day so we're trying to get a hot meal and eat it at home."
By 10 p.m. Monday, the Burger King staff finally had to start turning away those waiting in line, saying they were running out of supplies.
Texans were victims to massive power outages that stretched for hours and hours as the demand across the state outstripped supply.