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How to Store Cheese When You Have Too Much

By Anne 18 Comments

How to Save on Cheese - How to Preserve and Freeze Cheese so you can take advantage of major savings!

I remained blissfully unaware that one could freeze cheese until Foods 9 in high school.  Our teacher had told us that she got a good price on cheese and had put it in the freezer. I had no idea this was possible and talked to my Mom about it when I got home from school that day. She informed me that yes, you can freeze cheese, but it changes the texture and makes it more crumbly.

After cheese has been frozen, it can be a pain to cut and grating it is a bit of a disaster. I learned that the grating doesn’t work very well in that Foods 9 class. It is really not the end of the world, but it does affect the quality of the cheese and what you can do with it.

As a result, I can’t say that I have ever elected to freeze cheese myself, but I always knew that it was a theoretical option.

Then I Had Too Much Cheese

Right now, there are about three large blocks of cheese in the fridge. A pretty critical piece of information here is that I am the only person in the household who can eat regular old cheese. All of that cheese is for me!  (I can’t really say “little old me” here, because the cheese consumption has a tendency to go straight to my waistline.) My darling Spouse brought those three home for me after noticing that they were a stellar price, a few weeks ago.

Enter grocery shopping last Sunday. There were clearance crates of cheese.  They were $5. I wanted them.

So What Were My Options?

So, I bought them.  Then I took them home and grated each block, using my KitchenAid Slicer/Shredder Attachment. I should write a review of it, but that will have to be another time. I took the grated blocks and spread them out on wax paper on cookie sheets, and put them in the freezer.  After about 3 hours, I took the grated cheese off of the cookie sheets and put it in large, labeled ziplock bags. Now, I can grab a handlful of grated, frugal cheese, to use whenever I need it.

I already tested it out by making quesadillas for dinner later that week. They were delicious.

Grating the cheese before freezing makes all of the difference in the world.  It doesn’t end up crumbly and unworkable.  Another awesome benefit is how easy it is to use!  It’s grab and go, and it doesn’t take long at all to thaw, so you can basically use it straight out of the freezer.

This grated freezer cheese has a future on pizzas, on pasta, in quesadillas, in tacos, on top of casseroles, in wraps and pretty much any place I would normally use grated cheese. So, I’ve figured out how to store cheese when you have too much, without turning it into crumbly freezer cheese.  All for $5.

Frugal win!

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: How to Store Cheese

About Anne

Anne dreams of financial independence and is working her way towards it, whilst still enjoying life. She has a penchant for gift giving, which got her started with her first blog, Unique Gifter. She also loves money (who doesn't?) and needed an outlet to discuss it. Her likes? Seafood, figure skating, road cycling and skater shoes.

Comments

  1. Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter says

    October 12, 2014 at 14:40

    I didn’t know you could freeze cheese until a few years ago. We went to this dutch store nearby and bought a whole bunch of cheese but it turns out that our eyes were bigger than our stomaches so we couldn’t eat it all. We shredded it and froze it too – worked great!
    Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter recently posted…What Are You Giving Up to Save Money?My Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      April 22, 2015 at 07:42

      It also makes life so easy when you want to make things like quesadillas for dinner! Grab and go and no worries about waiting for it to defrost 🙂
      Anne recently posted…3 Shocking Wedding Budget Line ItemsMy Profile

      Reply
  2. jan says

    October 11, 2014 at 10:42

    Yup, I’d rather grate and freeze my own cheese anyways as I think the stuff pre-shredded is dusted with flour/corn starch or something. I always freeze grated cheese 🙂 Guess it’s one of those things that I take for granted that EVERYONE knows about 😉 Good deal on the cheese, I might add!
    jan recently posted…Frugal Activities #33My Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      April 22, 2015 at 07:44

      It was a great deal 🙂
      Yes… those pre-grated bags definitely have additives in them to keep stuff from clumping.
      It’s funny the things that some people take for granted. I only found out that most blenders can have mason jars screwed onto the bases… my spouse thought I was nuts for being so excited. It turns out that my mother in law has been doing that for decades!
      Anne recently posted…3 Shocking Wedding Budget Line ItemsMy Profile

      Reply
  3. Mrs. Frugalwoods says

    October 7, 2014 at 05:56

    Cheese! I love cheese, but we rarely buy it because of the price. I don’t think we’ve ever had too much cheese on hand (I scarf it down so fast when we actually do buy it 🙂 ). But, I now know that should a cheese bonanza ever befall me, I can freeze it :)!
    Mrs. Frugalwoods recently posted…September 2014 ExpendituresMy Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 7, 2014 at 07:07

      Cheese bonanzas are a thing of miracles, really.

      Reply
    • Anne says

      October 22, 2014 at 07:52

      The cheese bonanza day shall be a glorious day!

      Reply
  4. Tonya@Budget and the Beach says

    October 6, 2014 at 17:31

    I’m pretty sure I’d never have to worry about it because that cheese would be in my belly before it went bad. 🙂
    Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…Silencing Your CriticsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 7, 2014 at 07:05

      “Get in ma belly!”

      Reply
    • Anne says

      October 22, 2014 at 07:51

      You’ll just have to buy lots and lots and lots all at once sometime. I also devour cheese!

      Reply
  5. Pauline says

    October 6, 2014 at 09:43

    I freeze 5lb bags of grated cheese that I buy in the city and use them for pizza. But you have to use them quite quickly or they may absorb odors from the freezer. I’d say 3-6 months max.
    Pauline recently posted…What do you get for $250k, $500k, $750k or $1m in Guatemala?My Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 6, 2014 at 13:40

      Interesting. Mine have been in there for maybe 3 months now and so far, so good… but I guess we’ll see.

      Reply
  6. Michelle says

    October 6, 2014 at 09:27

    I love cheese…but cheese doesn’t love me LOL!
    Michelle recently posted…The Art of Intentional UsageMy Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 6, 2014 at 13:34

      Soft cheeses don’t love me and it makes me oh-so-sad!!

      Reply
  7. Brandy @bustedbudget says

    October 6, 2014 at 05:19

    I love cheese and when it goes on sale, I want to buy all the cheese. Sounds like you found a good deal and figured out a good way to salvage the excess. I might be stealing this for my own kitchen 🙂
    Brandy @bustedbudget recently posted…September Update and October GoalsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 6, 2014 at 13:39

      When it was $5/block, I could NOT pass it up, so decided I would give this a try. Usually the sales aren’t good enough for me to justify all of the extra effort.

      Reply
  8. Alicia says

    October 6, 2014 at 04:20

    I’ve done this before, but just use it for cooking afterwards. Great for pizza or lasagna or anything like that. The surprising thing for me was my parm still went moldy in the freezer. I guess it’s because I grated it finely (more surface area to bug-filled mold?), but I learned I didn’t save anything from that huge block of Costco parm.
    Alicia recently posted…Down to One Creditor Par-TayMy Profile

    Reply
    • Anne says

      October 6, 2014 at 13:38

      Parmesan of all things, too. It usually lasts forever! What a bummer.

      Reply

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The Bottom

You made it all the way to the bottom! Thanks so much for reading.
Did you know that The Bottom is the name of a town on the island of Saba, in the Caribbean? I went there on a trip once.
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Thanks for reading!

- Anne

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