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How to Freeze Cheese


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 858 Posts
June 15, 2006
Three different wedges of cheese.

Selecting High-Quality Cheese:

When selecting cheeses for freezing, avoid those with dry or cracked edges, mold that doesn't belong or cheeses that appear greasy on the surface. Check the date of prepackaged cheese to make sure it hasn't expired. Cheese keeps best in the refrigerator and freezing it will sacrifice some of its quality. Hard or semi-hard cheese can be frozen, but it may become develop a crumbly or mealy texture during freezing. However, it will retain its flavor and work just fine for cooking.
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Best Cheeses to Freeze:

Camembert, Cheddar, Edam, Mozzarella, Muenster, Parmesan, Port du Salut, Provolone, Romano, and Swiss. Blue Cheese will retain its flavor, but become crumbly. Soft cheeses should be frozen when they reached the desired ripeness.

Worst Cheeses to Freeze:

Container cream cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese do not freeze well. Blocks of cream cheese can be frozen for later use as an ingredient in recipes.

Preparing for Freezing:

Hard and semi-hard cheeses can be grated, sliced or cut into blocks for freezing.

Suitable Packaging:

Wrap wheels, blocks or slices of cheese tightly in plastic or heavy-duty aluminum foil. Separate slices of cheese with wax paper before freezing. Grated cheese stores well in airtight containers.

Maximum Storage Time:

Freeze soft cheese and cheese spreads and dips for 1 month, and hard and semi-hard cheese for 3 to 6 months.

Thawing:

Thaw the amount of cheese needed for consumption in the refrigerator, then serve it at room temperature. Cheese used for cooking should also be thawed in the refrigerator.
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Tips & Shortcuts:

Hard cheese grates well when it's frozen.

Refrigerating Cheese:

All natural cheese continues to age and change when stored. As a general rule, the softer the cheese, the more quickly it will spoil. If a small amount of mold appears on cheese, remove it and save the rest. Refrigerate soft cheese for 3 to 4 days, hard to semi-hard cheese for 2 to 3 weeks and cheese spreads and dips for 1 to 2 weeks.
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More Solutions

This page contains the following solutions.

September 23, 2011

For years I have been freezing cheese, especially when I see the expensive ones on sale or marked down. I leave it in the original wrapper and place them in a freezer bag and into the freezer they go.

 
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March 21, 2002

Buy cheese on sale and in large quantities. Cut it into sizes that fit your use and freeze. To use it just let it thaw out.

 
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18 Questions

Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.

May 7, 2011

I bought Havarti cheese from Costco, I would like to freeze some. Is it OK, as long as I use my food saver?

By sandie

Answers


Silver Feedback Medal for All Time! 290 Feedbacks
May 7, 20110 found this helpful

www.answerbag.com/.../2019307

 
May 9, 20110 found this helpful

Softer cheeses tend to crumble when thawed. I have frozen havarti cheese before and it crumbled....But it was Ok for grilled cheese and such.

 
May 9, 20110 found this helpful

I have purchased big blocks of cheddar, mozzarella and jack cheeses to food-saver into smaller sized 1 pound chunks and have never had a problem with keeping these chunks in the refrigerator. I have been able to keep my cheeses for months this way! Just make sure there is not a bit of air in the package and to mark them well.

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If there is accidently one with just a little bit of air, make sure to mark to use that one first. Don't try to food-saver grated cheese, they come out in a big chunk that you have to try to crumble anyway, and there is the possibility of having air that will allow mold to grow on the cheese.

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 846 Posts
May 9, 20110 found this helpful

Yes you can! Just wrap well and tightly in plastic wrap before placing in your food saver. Try to use it by around two months for best flavor. Yes, it will be crumbly but crumbled Havarti is wonderful to use in vinegar and oil dressed salads and melts well so you can easily use it in omelets, and pasta, rice and veggie dishes.

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:-)

 

Gold Post Medal for All Time! 846 Posts
May 9, 20110 found this helpful

P.S. I read somewhere long ago that all cheese freezes better if packaged in one pound or less blocks.

 
July 18, 20180 found this helpful

Arla Havarti from Costco can I freeze it

 
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November 18, 2009

I would like to freeze "Super Hot Pepper" cheese from my local deli. I have one of those "Food Savers" food sealing systems. I will be freezing them in 1lb. individual packages. I have several questions:

  1. Can I freeze this type of cheese?
  2. Should I have the deli slice the cheese for me into individual slices or slice them into 1lb. blocks?
  3. How long can they stay in the freezer?
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  4. Will they lose any flavor when I thaw them out?
  5. Once thawed out, how long will they stay good to eat?

Food Saver recommends freezing items for approx 1-2 hours before sealing them in their bags and then placing them in the freezer for storage.

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November 20, 20091 found this helpful
Best Answer

Freeze the cheese first, as suggested, then use the food saver. Doing this will keep the cheese in it's original shape. I tried to vacuum seal some shredded cheese, unfrozen, and it turned into a one blob of cheese. The flavor was fine after thawing but I had to slice it up to use. I have only froze blocks of cheese so I'm not sure if sliced cheese would work but I see no reason why it shouldn't. I LOVE my Food Saver and feel it's the best investment I have ever made due to the way it preserves all types of food for a very long time.

 
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February 8, 2007

Is it safe to freeze cooked cheddar cheese, like in recipes?

Rachel from Tel Aviv, Israel

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By bambi2003 (Guest Post)
February 10, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

I freeze cheese all the time, I live in a very rural area and only shop once a month. I freeze alot of things, and never had a problem with it turning to mush.

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I freeze both blocks and shredded, all different kinds.

 
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April 5, 2012

Can I freeze packaged cheese slices?

By Connie

Answers

April 5, 20120 found this helpful
Best Answer

It's very easy. Break it down into manageable blocks and then wrap tightly with saran wrap. Then place the wrapped cheese inside of a sandwich bag. The wrap keeps the moisture in the cheese and it stops the cheese from sticking to the inside of the plastic bag.

 
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December 27, 2007

I was "blessed" with a big tub of Pimento Cheese this Christmas. I need to know if this can be frozen, as we cannot eat it fast enough!

Jonnie from Utica, KY

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Silver Feedback Medal for All Time! 378 Feedbacks
December 27, 20070 found this helpful
Best Answer

Yes you can freeze it. Use baggies and divide it up into smaller amounts, then put the baggies into a larger one, with a 3x5 card label in with them, with the contents written in felt marker with big dark letters.

Are you sure you want to eat that? Many processed cheese items have a lot of partially hydrogenated or fractionated oils, which are found to be more dangerous than saturated fats. I no longer eat those because they attack brain tissue pretty efficiently, so a lot of what I grew up with is out. There's still plenty of delicious stuff out there!

Hope this helps, whether you are a trans-fat eater or not. God bless you.

 
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July 18, 2014

Can I freeze cream cheese in the store packaging?

By Loretta

Answers

July 19, 20140 found this helpful

I have frozen cream cheese in the store packaging. Freezing changes the texture of the cheese. The taste does not seem to change. It still can be used in recipes, but it can no longer be used by itself as a spread since it seems to dry out. So freezing it would depend on the use it is intended for. Hope this is helpful.

 
July 20, 20140 found this helpful

I have frozen cream cheese and if you let it thaw completely outside of the fridge, then put into the fridge, it is usually creamy like when it was first bought. If you put it straight into the fridge from the freezer, it will be crumbly and only good for use in cooking.

 
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December 27, 2012

Can I freeze lunch meat and cheese?

By Shirley

Answers

December 28, 20120 found this helpful

I always freeze luncheon meat, but I don't know if freezing would affect the consistency of the cheese. It might depend on the cheese.

 
December 31, 20120 found this helpful

I have successfully frozen hard cheeses in their original packaging. Cream cheeses don't seem to like the freezer, though, so if they seem to be at the end of their life span in the refrigerator, I stir them into potatoes, scambled eggs, or bread dough.

 
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March 2, 2010

Will Havarti cheese freeze well?

By Joe T. Vosoba from Phoenix, AZ

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 147 Feedbacks
March 3, 20100 found this helpful

Best Cheeses to Freeze: Camembert, Cheddar, Edam, Mozzarella, Muenster, Parmesan, Port du Salut, Provolone, Romano, and Swiss. Blue Cheese will retain its flavor, but become crumbly. Soft cheeses should be frozen when they reached the desired ripeness.

Worst Cheeses to Freeze: Container cream cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese do not freeze well. Blocks of cream cheese can be frozen for later use as an ingredient in recipes.
Good luck.

 
March 5, 20100 found this helpful

I freeze Havarti regularly (in its own pkg.) and have, not once, had a problem. It's still as delicious as when I 1st put it in there=)

 
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Bronze Request Medal for All Time! 59 Requests
January 2, 2013

I know, American cheese is not a true cheese; however, my sister split a large quantity that was bought at Costco and it is too much for hubby and I to use in the near future. They are slices, but they not individually wrapped. Can they be frozen?

By Maryeileen from Brooklyn, OH

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Bronze Request Medal for All Time! 59 Requests
February 10, 20130 found this helpful

Can American cheese slices be frozen?

 
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September 3, 2014

Can I freeze feta cheese?

By Marie

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November 28, 2013

Can I freeze French brie cheese?

By lynda46

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October 25, 2013

Can pasteurized processed American cheese that comes in 2lb. blocks be frozen?

By Billie

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December 23, 2012

Can I freeze Crescenza-Stracchino cheese?

By Mike M

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December 15, 2012

This is a page about freezing cheese sauce or dip. Try freezing, when looking for ways to store extra cheese sauce or dip.

Freezing Cheese Dip

September 4, 2011

This is a page about freezing ricotta cheese. Ricotta cheese is well known as the soft creamy cheese used in dishes such as lasagna, as well as, many desserts. Although ricotta cheese can be frozen there are some factors to keep in mind when doing so.

Ricotta cheese on fig leaves on white plate, with cheese knife.

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