Eat From the Pantry Month

A couple of months ago I noticed that a lot of people whose blogs are dedicated to food storage and coupon shopping were having an "Eat from the Pantry Month", and apparently they do this for one month every year.  I didn't participate then, but have decided that this is the month for me!  There are a couple of reasons to do this...

1. I really have a LOT of food in my food storage...probably way more than my year's worth that I was shooting for.  In some cases, more than I need and things are starting to get shoved to the back and forgotten about.
2. We are trying to finish the basement and the more food I put down there the more crowded it's getting and the more stuff we have to shift around when we work.
3. I would like to take a month off of grocery shopping and concentrate on other things (like finishing the basement, for example...)
4. I'd like to try my hand at living off what I have bought already so that I can see what areas I might be lacking in.  Six months ago I didn't have any seasonings or spices in my storage.  If I had to eat for a year with no salt...well...that would just be horrible.

So...I am declaring April to be out "Eat From the Pantry" month!  I made a menu for the month, and from there I made a "shopping list" and went shopping in the basement for everything I need to make all the meals for the month.  Now my pantry is full and all I am going to shop for this month is perishables...milk, produce and bread items.  I actually may hit the case lot sale only to buy some cans of powdered milk (they have my favorite brand on sale at Macey's this month) just because I don't have hardly any of that in my storage.
Surprisingly, I really DID have almost everything I needed for the month except some produce. And I learned a few things about what I don't have stored that I need to get...(like soy sauce).
Another GREAT thing about doing this is that it is going to free up my grocery money for the month for other things.  Considering we're almost ready for carpet, I think I know where that money will go...