What to do with 5lbs of chedder cheese?

[Seedersandleechers]

It says here not to freeze cheese as it can break down the molecular structure. I'm the only one who will eat cheese soup - though my roomate loves chedder cheese.


http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/the-cheesemonger/can-you-should-you-do-you-freeze-cheese-on-freezing-cheese-the-cheesemonger-117893

[FSogol]

1. Get 2 teenage boys. Then cheese in any amount will not go to waste.

Speaking from experience!

[hlthe2b]

2. This very question was asked on this blog: Answer: Cheese Crackers!

http://www.eatingcleveland.com/2008/06/25/cheese-crackers-recipe/

When life gives you lemons you’re supposed to make lemonade. But what the hell are you supposed to do when life gives you 5 pounds of shredded cheddar cheese? I say make your own cheddar cheese crackers and tell Mr.Nips to take a hike. (Sound pretty yummy to me... )

Cheddar Cheese Cracker Recipe
1 Stick of Butter – at room temperature
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 325° and get out your food processor.
2. Throw all of those ingredients into the food processor and pulse until well mixed, about 10 times.
3. Dump the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to bring it together forming a ball of dough.
4. If the consistency allows, roll the dough out into a very thin layer. Maybe 1/8 inch. If the dough is too loose to roll, toss it into the fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Once rolled out, cut the crackers. You can use cookie cutters here if you would like fancy shapes, but I just used a pizza cutter for basic crackers. It’s your call.
6. Place the crackers onto a cookie sheet covered with foil or even better, a Silpat baking mat.
7. Bake for 11 minutes or until the crackers start to get just golden on the edges.
8. Place on a cooling rack until the crackers are no longer warm.
9. Agree to never buy cheese crackers at the store again.

[Seedersandleechers]

19. Are these like cheez its?

Nothing is better than a fresh box of cheez its.

[hlthe2b]

20. Supposedly even better....'Haven't had the chance to try them yet

But the comments on the blog indicate they are very good.

[elleng]

3. Cheddar Cheese Fondue

(if only!!!)

[saras]

4. Make quiches and freeze them. If you couldn't freeze cheese, there'd be no frozen pizza.

Or make chili, or other bean soup with cheese. Freeze it.

In college I had friends who would slice cheese thin, put it on a tilted cookie sheet, and bake it at 250 until all the grease melted out and the rest got hard. Then they'd take the crispy cheese chips as hiking food. But I wouldn't recommend it myself. They're gross.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Chedder freezes just fine. I regularly buy 5# blocks of Chedder from Costco

break it into 1# blocks, shrink wrap it with my food saver and freeze it.

I've run into a few cheeses that didn't freeze well but Chedder is not one of them.

[Denninmi]

6. I freeze cheese all of the time.

Depending upon age and moisture content, it may come out of the freezer a bit on the crumbly side, which can actually be a bonus for many things if you plan on using it in cooking.

You can also dehydrate it -- be aware that a lot of the butter fat comes off as an oily substance, leaving behind the proteins. When fully dehydrated, it can be powdered and stored very dry for up to a year. Great for popcorn. It reduces dramatically in weight and volume when you do this -- a pound of fresh cheese ends up making something like 5 ounces of dried cheese.

[cbayer]

7. I would just start putting it on and in everything, but I love cheddar cheese.

It should last for quite a while in the frig.

[Seedersandleechers]

13. I'm making meat loaf tonight

so it's going to have a lot of cheese in and on it.

[Lucinda]

8. You have some great suggestions already, and I agree with cbayer, it will keep a long while

in the fridge. I used to buy a big log of pepperjack at a time. I t never got too icky to use.

[jwirr]

9. It can be frozen for cooking later. It crumbles but if you are using it for cooking that will not

matter.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Shredding it avoids that problem.

I always freeze any bags of shredded cheese I find on a great sale. I never notice any crumbling. Any of the harder cheeses, such as mozzerella, jack, colby and Swiss all freeze really well in shredded form.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. Yes, shredding is a good idea.

For one thing, if the cheese's texture degrades a bit in the freezer it's hard to shred.

I freeze cheddar and jack. Both are fine when thawed but the jack gets pretty wobbly and it's impossible to shred. Cheddars seem to hold up better.

[kestrel91316]

10. Mail it to me. You really don't want to eat that. It's bad for you.

[Seedersandleechers]

17. yes, what is bad is always good?

Funny how that works.

[housewolf]

12. For cooking, freezing is fine

Freezing does cause it to get a bit crumbly, so it's not so great to use for crackers or sandwiches. But for things like Cheddar Cheese soup, macaroni & cheese, cheddar quiche, etc, it will melt just fine.

[Luciferous]

14. I've frozen cheese before without any problems, but I would use

some of it to make macaroni and cheese- yum!

[maddezmom]

16. send it to me

Just kidding, I've frozen cheese before but normaly shred it first.

[Seedersandleechers]

18. Thank you for the suggestion.

Shredding before freezing.

[WhollyHeretic]

21. Mac n cheese. I also make up 3 or 4 quiches at the beginning of each month and freeze them

[CottonBear]

22. Homemade pimento cheese. Cheeseburgers. Cheese crackers. Corn casserole.

My family loves this easy recipe: Easy Cheesy Corn Bake (corn casserole): http://southernfood.about.com/od/corncasserolerecipes/r/r81030d.htm

[TreasonousBastard]

23. Cheese bread, Croque Monseur...

AKA grilled ham and cheese, or just freeze the stuff and forget what some people tell you.
Buttery cheeses like cheddar will be kinda crumbly if frozen, but if you're melting or cooking them they'll do just fine.

FWIW, I have lots of vacuum packed half pound blocks of cheddar in the fridge that are at least a year out of date but still good. Most of them, anyway. If you have a Foodsaver or similar gadget, you can vacuum pack your own.

[HopeHoops]

24. Shred it all and put it in a bag marked "PIZZA CHEESE". Buy a lot of tortilla wraps.

Get a few jars of pasta sauce. It won't last long.

If need be, write "Set over for 400. When heated, spread sauce and cheese on tortillas and put on a cookie sheet until edges are brown and cheese is bubbling (6-8 minutes). Eat. Repeat.