Block vs. Grated Cheese


A few years ago we tried to go totally unprocessed.  We did really well for about 5 months, then I had to go back to the States for a funeral.  I was gone ten days and when I got home, I just couldn't get back into it!!  It was so much work!

Looking back, because I want to start again, I think part of the problem was that I tried to tackle EVERY SINGLE additive & preservative at the same time.  As well as cutting out all the white stuff ... you know, flour, sugar, rice etc .....

It was too much at once.

But, there are things I still do regularly that I learned back then.  Like ... making my own mayo - so easy!  (watch this video!)   And grating cheese. 

I'll admit, I don't do these things exclusively but I'm going to head that way.  I'm going to try to replace one processed product in my pantry/fridge with an unprocessed version each week.  I'm hoping that trying to tackle this on a smaller, more gradual scale will be easier. 

I'll share what I find.  

So, what's with the grating cheese thing?  I need to find where I read it and come back and reference it, but apparently, grated cheese contains an anti-caking agent and block cheese doesn't.  Grating your own cheese is an easy way to eliminate one preservative from your diet!

It's easy.  And you can freeze it. 

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Start with a block ...

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Pop it in your food processor.  Or grate with whatever you use to grate.  Do the whole block!

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Into the freezer and ready for when you need it!

So quick.

So easy.


2 comments:

Kath said...

Do you put the entire block's worth of grated cheese into one enormous bag? Does is stay loose enough that you can pull out a cup or two when a recipe calls for it? Or do you divide it into portions and put it into smaller bags? This is very interesting!

Bonnie said...

Yes ... that's an entire block in each of those bags. It stays quite loose ... although I did it with provolone one time and it sort of balled up a bit and was harder to get out. Mozzarella and tasty have been no problem. Generally, we just take the bag out, loosen it up with fingers on the outside of the bag and voila! You could also divide into smaller bags but that's more work, and more bags .... :)

The kids love always having grated cheese in the freezer. They use it every morning to make themselves a cheese tortilla to take to school.