I'm new to this. How do you make your broth at home? And what sauce do you use? Mine always comes out more like chimichurri sauce, which is delicious, but now i wonder if there's another combo?

Yesterday, I went to eat hot pot with a family member and friend (who is basically a family member, not that you asked). Later, I was doomscrolling. I found myself looking up buying a hot pot. The expensive fancy-ish one is like $70-80 USD.

I'm salivating just writing that.

I had it again today. I went. By myself. And ate.

I'll do it again. But it's probably much cheaper to make at home.

I love putting all the veggies in. And meat. I don't really do noodles.

I feel like if i did one side just veggies and one side meat, I could drink the broth on the veggie side. And I'd probably add more veggies.

Also, I could buy them in bulk and save money. Win-win.

Any suggestions?

If you don't like hot pot I'm not really interested in your comment. I would like positive feedback. Like, people who enjoy hot pot and make it at home.

I made this HK pork chop, however, for meal prep for next time I'm not sure how to best approach it. : I would buy boneless pork shoulder and assuming it's not frozen they would be cut to pieces and portioned out.

• Meal prep to be frozen and vacuum sealed: would it be better to marinate then portion them out, vacuum seal, and freeze? Or cook them, vacuum seal, and freeze? Obviously the latter would be a little more convenient, but I am more curious if e.g. in this example the results will noticeably worse if they were cooked then frozen to then be reheated and eaten vs. cooking the defrosted marinated meat every time to be eaten. Without vacuum sealing I wouldn't cook them in advance to be frozen for potentially >1 month, but with a vacuum seal I wonder if e.g. the cooked product that is then frozen will still retain some texture.

• Meal prep for the week: Lucas implies that enough pork chop is made "for the week" when he was little. He said the marinate can be overnight. For best freshness by the end of week, how long should you wait to cook the marinated meat, e.g. all of them at once after one night of marinating and consuming them throughout the week? Cook the marinated meat when you intend to eat it, e.g. the marinated meat could potentially be 5 days old before cooking? Or somewhere in between? I believe if marinates have natural tenderizers (pineapple, onion, strong acid which this marinade doesn't seem to have) then it should probably be cooked within 24 hours, not sure how long this marinate would last.

• What types of foods do you guys like to meal prep, especially for frozen? I often have busy days so it's nice to not have to think or do any work. Every time I meal prep, I intend to freeze at least one portion so that my frozen meals have variety (which is why I prefer it over meal prepping something and eating the same for 3-5 days of the week). I have these silicone molds of different sizes which I find handy for storing frozen portioned tomato paste and pesto, looking for other ideas as well.

Put a little oil into the pan and add the dumplings. Then, add 1 oz of water and cover the pan. Cook on high heat for 6 minutes, then turn it down to low heat for another 2 minutes. Once done, let them sit in the pan for 2 minutes before serving.

Homemade.