"I've gone out to eat every night of the week. I went to the same local pizza shop four nights in a row," he says.

While Ward has been able to return to his home, some aren't so lucky: 6,922 people and 48 pets were being cared for in 104 shelters as of Friday, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management.

The residents we spoke to were sustaining themselves by eating food they'd stocked up before the storm or at local restaurants, but some who live in the state are receiving supplemental food from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 596,000 liters of water and more than 199,000 meals have been transferred from staging bases in Westover, Massachusetts, and Lakehurst, New Jersey, to affected states to supplement their existing inventory, according to FEMA.

While FEMA is helping some, Matt Eckert of Hoboken, who has no power and a flooded basement, is getting by with a little help from his friends.

During the day, he showers, charges his phone, eats and drinks at friends' homes with hot water and electricity.

"We've really come together as a community. We were all so lucky that our friends had power and, therefore, let us share the bounties of our freezers," says Eckert. "Each night we gathered, drank (didn't want the beer to go warm) cooked and socialized before walking back through the dark streets to our own cold apartments."

On Thursday, Eckert's girlfriend's family cooked up a feast in the spirit of Thanksgiving, featuring a turkey that had been frozen since Easter and other food that was just going to go bad anyway.

Despite his losses, Eckert realized he had a lot to be thankful for.

"Many of us were lucky in Hoboken to only have minimal damage," he said. "There are some in town who were not as fortunate, and it is heartbreaking."