If so does it work and to what degree? Reason I ask is we have been getting 5lb blocks of a good quality sliced cheese. They are not individually wrapped and there are 120 slices per block. We have now gotten a third block in the last four weeks. We have given out as much as we can to family,friends, and whoever shows up at the door and will take some.

It's close code dated so the food shelf won't take it even though it's perfectly fine. As I said it's a good quality cheese not the cheap greasy slices you can buy. I've searched the web and get different answers. I've vacuumed sealed a couple 10 slice bags and have them in the freezer to see how it works out. Just wondering if anyone else has tried it and if it worked. If it doesn't work it will save me a lot of time not having to do all the separating sealing and freezing.

We get these from a food service guy we know through our distribution business and we exchange products back and forth. We also get a good array of other products including meats so we don't want to say no to anything he has to exchange.

Only cheese I've ever frozen has been aged extra sharp cheddar. Found after it defrosts you need to use it fairly quickly, so smaller portions in vacuum sealed freezer bags is the way to go.

I’ve never frozen cheese, but well wrapped it keeps good for a long time refrigerated. I can’t quantify “long time” because I’ve never seen it go bad. I’ve seen some cheese last 6 weeks.

Kept properly most cheeses will last quite a while in just the fridge. It is cultured dairy which get's it's flavor from ageing in merely cool tempters. Swiss for an example, I've kept sliced swiss in the fridge for 30 some days. We eat it up before that so I don't know how it would fair longer, but if I saw some minor mold, I'd just cut it away (before my wife saw it) and make a nice sandwich.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Only cheese I've ever frozen has been aged extra sharp cheddar. Found after it defrosts you need to use it fairly quickly, so smaller portions in vacuum sealed freezer bags is the way to go.

Yeah that's what I'm attempting now as mine own experiment but I only started doing it a week or so ago. I'd like them to sit in the freezer several months before I pull them out to see how they fare. I don't think pulling them out after a week is going to tell me much.

It becomes crumbly. We freeze both soft and aged cheese. We also store aged cheese in the original unopened package for a year or more in the refrigerator.

It will freeze but becomes way more crumbly/fragile

I wouldn’t try to freeze slices, you may never get them apart again. Block or even grated maybe, vacuum sealed or just sealed up well in double freezer bags.

I buy the pre sliced Costco provolone or cheddar. Separate into 2 inch stacks in a Ziplock and freeze. Lasts about 2 months with no change in texture or taste.

I buy the Costco cheddar. I portion it out to about 1" of slices, then put it in sandwich baggies I remove what air I can before sealing. As I'm old and forget a bit, I've used it over a year later. Agree with previous posts about separating when it's been in the freezer over 6 months, but have never noticed any flavor problems. Also, when I thaw out a baggie, I shake out what ice particles I can while still frozen.

Vac sealed shredded cheese works pretty well. I buy the shredded cheese in packs, cut the seal off the packs, seal in a vac bag, and freeze.

I vac sealed: Swiss, American and provolone no issues. Cream cheese will change texture however still fine for use as an ingredient. Same as milk however light and heavy cream, cooking only.

Have frozen blocks of Swiss, Colby and Cheddar successfully. Also already grated packages of mozzarella, pizza and Mexican cheese Kroger sells will freeze and then thaw well (i.e., doesn’t seem to affect flavor or texture significantly). The wife freezes containers of cottage cheese for later use by putting them in ziploc freezer bags and sticking them in the freezer. Seems to work ok.

I would not. I lived in Wisconsin and would have the local cheese factory mail me a brick of cheddar. Kept in at room temperature for months. No problem.

I freeze Philadelphia Cream Cheese on a regular basis.

It needs a nuking process in the microwave to make it smooth again after it thaws, but it works fine.

Thanks for the responses all. One thing that keeps popping us is people say separate your slices and put pieces of parchment paper in between slices. Sounds tedious but I'm determined to waste as little of this as possible. It pains me to throw out food. I can buy 4"X4" squares of parchment paper on Amazon and try that. Figure I can freeze in packs of 10 and do some meal planning around cheese! Lot's of 'mater soup and grilled cheese!

This is what I have been getting with more possibly coming.

That is the size we used to get, but it would have a red coating on the outside.

I've never had the impression that cheese freezes well so I've never really tried. At least not w/ the types of cheeses I buy.

That being said, I have had success freezing parmesan cheese, which is lower milk fat and inherently dryer already. And it helps with grating as well. But only for short period (used w/in a month).

It finally dawned on me to email the Bongards company (turns out it's a Minnesota processor) itself and ask them. The response was they do not recommend freezing their products but it can be done. They stressed wrapping it tight (what does that better than a vacuum sealer) and to thaw it slowly in the fridge for best results.

Ordered the parchment squares so I'm going to spend some quality time standing in front of the chamber vac playing with cheese this week I guess.