# 22 lbs of shredded cheddar



## Janet H (May 27, 2009)

I went camping this past weekend and came home with 22 lbs of shredded cheddar (loooong story).  Can I freeze this?


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## jabbur (May 27, 2009)

yes!  package it up and freeze.  Cheddar is not very forgiving when frozen in chunk form but shredded it works fairly well.  I have done it with shredded before and it thawed out nice.  Freezing makes cheddar crumbly but if it's shredded that doesn't matter and is less than when freezing a block.


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## SRL (May 27, 2009)

Janet H said:


> I went camping this past weekend and came home with 22 lbs of shredded cheddar (loooong story).  Can I freeze this?



Wow, best I've ever done camping is coming home with a few Morels or a bucket of blackberries, how do you come home with 22 lbs of cheese?


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## Claire (May 27, 2009)

22 pounds?  I need to hear this story.  Yes, freeze.  It will lose some in texture (in other words, you might not want to do a cream/cheese sauce with it) but will probably be fine in nachos, layered salads and dips, topping casseroles, etc.


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## Katie H (May 27, 2009)

Go ahead and freeze it, Janet.  When all 5 of our children were at home, we regularly bought shredded cheeses in 10-pound or greater quantities and froze it.  If you have a FoodSaver, all the better for packaging the cheese.


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## Alix (May 27, 2009)

Story please!


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## Janet H (May 27, 2009)

Alix said:


> Story please!



OK... This last weekend my band played at a festival a couple of hours from home. Since it was in a beautiful area we decided to spend a few days camping there with our families and friends and it turned into a 24 family, 4 day outdoor cooking spree.  We planned meals in advance with everyone pitching in and helping. 

One night we had pit smoked salmon and artichokes, another we had a bring your own meat (BYOM) bbq and on the last night we had a chili night. 

People signed up to bring condiments for the BBQ, chili and next mornings breakfast of cooked to order eggs, tortillas, cinnimon rolls and ham (2 people per meal).  All six people brought shredded cheese and all of them bought 5 lb bags. One person brought 2 bags for a grand total of 13 bags.  7 x 5 = 35 lbs of cheese. We used less than 2 bags and a third bag was lost to a family of raccons who actually dragged away the entire bag while we watched, laughing so hard no one could intervene.  

When it came time to pack up at the end of the weekend, there were left overs.  The person in charge of this process divided the meat and chili amongst the interested parties and then decided that since I was a vegetarian the cheese should go to me.  When I was packing my car I found a cooler next to the back door with a note, full of cheese. Really, really full.


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## MexicoKaren (May 27, 2009)

Oh my goodness! Sounds like you had a good time, and obviously a nice group of compatible people. Although Mexico has a wealth of wonderful cheeses, we can seldom find cheddar cheese. I get it at Costo occasionally, and I usually buy two 2-kilo bags of shredded cheese. It freezes beautifully, and I use it for cheese sauces all the time with no problems.


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## recipedirect (May 27, 2009)

Hope about a gigantic mac and cheese!


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## Andy M. (May 27, 2009)

Janet H said:


> I went camping this past weekend and came home with 22 lbs of shredded cheddar (loooong story).  Can I freeze this?




Have you been dumpster diving behind the Kraft cheese factory again???


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## ErikC (May 27, 2009)

This sounds like a great new topic: huge amounts of one type of food that you have bought/been given/etc. I was once given 400 pounds of split peas!


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## Andy M. (May 27, 2009)

You could donate it to a food bank or shelter.


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## TheNoodleIncident (May 27, 2009)

Andy M. said:


> Have you been dumpster diving behind the Kraft cheese factory again???


 
Kraft is NOT cheese


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (May 27, 2009)

TheNoodleIncident said:


> Kraft is NOT cheese


 
Ah c'mon now.  I grew up on Kraft Longhorn Colby.  I think it tastes just fine, right next to the potted meat sandwich.

But give me some Balderson Heritage 5-year aged cheddar and I'm in Heaven.  But I can only get the stuff in Canada.  Wish I could find and equally great cheese available in the markets around my town.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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