freezing cheese

[Lila42]

yep, I buy it on sale then freeze it. I find the single wrapped slices that I put in the kid's lunches do fine. I have had block cheddar break apart on me.

[r8rpwr]

Usually the cheese that I put in the freezer is the shredded kind that you can buy cheap in bulk at Sam's Club and similar places.

[medako]

I freeze grated and slices. Both seem to defrost just fine. The block cheese does seem to crumble sometimes after it's been frozen.

[oldbay]

I had a Aunt that got the surplus cheese from the USDA and she always froze it because they gave out about 10 pounds of cheese and you had to freeze it. lt came out no worse for the wear although I'm sure a cheesosir would disagree.

[TexasRose]

I usually buy cheese in bulk and freeze it. Seems to work fine, and them I'm not always running out and going to the store to get a small bag for $4 or some such thing.

[Mrs. Chipotle]

Originally Posted by TexasRose

I usually buy cheese in bulk and freeze it. Seems to work fine, and them I'm not always running out and going to the store to get a small bag for $4 or some such thing.

This is what I do. I can get a 5 lb bag at Sams club for a good price.

[GregGraves]

This is interesting. You never see cheese in the frozen food section of the grocer as "cheese". Yet, there are tons of frozen foods in that section with cheese. So I began writing this thinking that it's odd, yet as I think about it, it's not strange at all. Frozen pizzas, lasagnas, etc all have cheese.

[Semigourmet]

One tip about cheese and freezing is. If you need to shredd soft cheeses. Parially freeze them first so that they are firmer and they will shredd better and easier.

[roobee71]

I also freeze chees all the time. I buy in bulk (shredded) when its on sale and freeze for a month or so. I use cheese in/on everything so I doubt it will ever go bad at my house. I also freeze cheese singles. I've never had any troubles. I always just freeze in original packaging.
(I've never frozen cream cheese...wonder if that will work?) It's on sale right now....lol

[KYHeirloomer]

Kraft and them say not to freeze cream cheese. But lots of folks do so. My understanding is that after defrosting it becomes slightly grainy; not a problem if it's being mixed into something (like, say, a dip).

I think that applies to most cheeses. It's ok to freeze them if they're going to be cooked, because the texture/taste profile isn't as important. But defrosted frozen cheese doesn't have the right mouth feel. Plus the flavor/texture profile can be affected by freezing.