If you've ever stood in front of your fridge at 5pm with no plan, a hungry family, and absolutely nothing left in the tank — you're in the right place.
Welcome to Home-Cooked Roots!
Meet Nicolette
I'm a stay at home mom, budgeting enthusiast, and the creator of the STOCK Method — a freezer stocking system designed to put dinner on autopilot for busy families.
It started with $70,000 of student loan debt.
I paid off $70,000 in student loan debt in 27 months by learning to cook everything from scratch. I started this blog in 2019 to share the recipes I was making and it's been my full time job since 2021.
After having a baby I realized that knowing how to meal plan and grocery shop on a budget only gets you so far. The other half of the battle is planning ahead for the exhaustion and decision fatigue 5pm brings.
That's exactly what my freezer meal prep system does. With a few 90 minute prep sessions, you'll be able to stock your freezer with weeks worth of real homemade meals that require no brain power or prep time on week nights.
My Food Philosophy
I cook with plants at the center of almost everything. Beans, lentils, whole grains, and lots of fruits and vegetables. I'm inspired by the work of gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, who advocates for eating as wide a variety of plants as possible for optimal gut health. That philosophy shapes how I cook and what I share here.
You'll find a lot of recipes on this blog that are labeled vegan or dairy free. While I don't follow a strict vegan diet myself, those recipes exist because they're genuinely delicious and naturally packed with plant diversity. Labels are just for searchability. The food speaks for itself.
My cooking isn't about restriction. It's about adding more. More plants, more variety, more flavor.
