Todays job, cheese grating.

Oh one of the many messier foodie jobs but it is cheaper to do it yourself than to buy store bought. You also know exactly what cheese is used.

So today I will get out my food processor and 1.5 kilograms of cheese (2x750g of my favourite cheese blocks, one low fat cheddar and one full fat tasty).  I’ll chop that cheese into finger chunks and feed in, alternating cheeses into the processor to grate.

I then divide and seal into 3 zip loc bags and freeze.

If you wish take one of those 3 sealed bags and toss in some dried herbs, shake and you have your pizza cheese all ready to go.

Grated herbed cheese is also nice sprinkled on hot steamed vegetables when served.

Its easy to grab a handful to flavour your white sauce.  Add parsley for an easy cheese and parsley sauce for your corned beef, steamed vegetables or au gratin.

Easy to sprinkle on your hot dogs.

I’ve grated parmesan cheese to freeze.  I don’t use a lot of parmesan cheese but it is a nice flavoured cheese to have, so I sometimes use a little on it’s own or mix in with above grated cheese bags.

I have grated and frozen mozzarella cheese but I don’t use a lot of it either so if I do buy it it usually gets thrown in with the pizza cheese.  A bit harder to grate in the processor so I grate by hand.

Feta cheese is fantastic on a pizza you just have to remember not to crumble it to small or it goes dry and hard and pebbly. I don’t freeze feta cheese as this is a longer lasting cheese in the oil or brine.

Personally I love the marinated goats feta cheese in oil.  There is a lovely lemon, pepper corn and bayleaf marinated feta  that is fantastic in a tossed or greek salad instead of a salad dressing.

You don’t have to be a bulk grater but grated cheese is so handy to have in the freezer, takes only 5 minutes to defrost spread out on a dinner plate.  Half the time I use when it’s still frozen as I can’t wait or want it now.

You can freeze chunks of cheese or slices but I’ve found this will crumble when defrosted.  If you don’t mind crumbling your cheese this is an easy alternative but you have to wait until it defrosts, preferably in the fridge.

I’ve not had any mouldy cheese since I’ve been freezing my cheeses. It’s a good way to buy the cheaper bigger blocks in bulk and not have waste.

I do not know how freezing cheese goes if it’s NOT made with cows milk. I guess you will have to make your own experiment as I’ve only tried with the cows milk cheeses.