How can one prepare for a power grid shutdown? What are all the things a person should get ahead of time?

if you want to really know what ya need let me ask you a few questions
1 you live in a house or apt?
2 do you live in the country or city?
3 how many are there with you.?
4 do you have a car or truck or van or none?
5 what part of the usa you live in?
6 how much money can you invest in this?

give me some of those and i will not be speaking in general but how to make it easy for you to ride our more than a few days

1 buy a camping stove
2 buy food to cook on that stove that does not need to be in the fridge
3 sleeping bag rated for extreme cold
4 a tent you can put up in the living room
5 candles
6 lots of water. distilled works best it does not go bad in time
7 now answer the top questions

i am a prepper
A survivalist; one who actively prepares for emergencies.

The basics.

Water
Food and/or a way of obtaining food
Fire and/or a way to make fire
Shelter and/or a way to make shelter.
A BIG KNIFE.
If you're in the USA a few high powered rifles and handguns.

like a planned power grid shutdown scheduled for a specific time? make sure laptop and phone are fully charged. make sure game consoles are turned off. know in advance what you're gonna eat ( eat before it happens, have a barbacue, go to a restaurant outside of the shutdown zone, turn to canibalism). if you live in a very cold area and have only electric heating you might want to go crash at a friends or family or rent a hotel room.

Solar panels and a generator.

[image deleted]already started

Plenty of canned foods, water filtration devices to get water from rivers, etc, generators and solar panels, a ton of matches and lighters, a ton of batteries of many denominations, and a few guns wouldn't hurt

Food that won’t spoil, solar panels, light sources, rocket stove for outdoor cooking (can use sticks and other things as fuel),

[image deleted]without clean water you will die

CERT has a good list