It wasn't that many years ago that I regularly purchased…get this…Velveeta or Kraft American slices, and I called it “cheese” too! Our poor kids, the junk we used to put into their bodies makes me sick now to think about it.
Please, when it comes to cheese, either slice or shred your own, or use real cheese slices with no junk in the ingredients list, NEVER Velveeta or American – both are highly processed junk food with vegetable oils! It even says on the labels, “processed cheese food”, that's your first clue to step away slowly. Other cheeses at the store have chemical preservatives, so watch for that too.
The Easiest Way to Shred Cheese
I used to be a lazy cheese snob and bought all my cheese for recipes already shredded. This is very expensive, especially if you buy organic, AND the pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking chemicals!
Nowadays I buy my cheese in big hunks (MUCH more economical) and easily shred it myself with my Bosch slicer/shredder. No more worries about burning up my food processor motor trying to shred cheese (yep, I've ruined one this way), the Bosch can handle anything. This may sound crazy, but you should see the beautiful shreds it makes as the machine just softly hums and does its work.
I will often shred many hunks of cheese at once and then toss it into freezer bags, usually 2 cups at a time, label the bag with the date, and throw it in the freezer to have on-hand for recipes.
You could also shred it by hand with one of these box graters, it's really not that tricky.
Usually I get one of the teenagers to do this, but make sure they watch their thumbs, I've lost skin that way before!
- Why else do I love my Bosch, you ask? I can make 6 loaves of soft soaked homemade bread at once!
- Is Fluoride safe?
- Gluten Allergy? Or Wheat Sensitivity? Using Alternative Grains
- An oldie but a goodie: Eating Healthy on a Budget – 12 Tips
bob says
you know, the anti-caking agent in pre-grated cheese is usually only potato starh… It;s really not that bad. You can make this “chemical” at home by boiling potatoes until utterly mushy, then straining the liquid.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with grating some cheese with, you know, a grater.
Soccy says
I love my Bosch too. I’ll gave to try your bread recipe. I keep having issues with the rising. I was letting my bread rise 3 times (2x in bowl, 1x in pans). Anyway, how do you slice your cheese? Do you slice it while frozen? Which blade do you use? I don’t have the shredder only the smaller food processor. Thanks.
KitchenKop says
I have the slicer/shredder and use the shredding blade – super easy. I do it when the cheese is cold, not frozen. If you have a shredding blade on your food processor it should work fine, just not as much at once.
For slicing I just use a hand-held cheese slicer, very easy, also when cold, not frozen. 🙂
Kelly
Shellie says
How do you convince a 5 year old kid that the real kind tastes better than the processed stuff? this goes for anything. he is so upset that he cant have pudding pack, cheese singles, crackers and cheese, etc. I havent’ found something to replace it with because he sticks his nose up at any of the real choices like cheddar cheese (I buy the mild for him), homemade mac n cheese, homemade pudding, etc… he won’t eat it. He will taste it – say its not the same, and refuse to eat the rest. frustrating at best!
KitchenKop says
Kids are such a pain sometimes aren’t they?! I went through that with my kids, too. After a while though, when they saw that the crap wasn’t coming back, they started to be happy with the “new” versions we had now. It takes time, and diligence, too. You’ll eventually find things he’ll eat, and slowly you’ll keep finding more. Also, it’s likely his taste buds are screwed up from the food he used to eat, like my kids’ were, and it takes a while to get all that out and then he’ll be able to taste how good the Real Food is. 🙂
Joe Gardner says
You tell them they can eat it or go hungry. Period. Stop giving in
Kelly says
Hi Rachel,
First, here are a couple posts that might help, and maybe your husband would read them…?
https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/03/support-from-your-spouse-in-kitchen.html
and
https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/02/health-nutrition-guest-interview-kent.html
Sometimes, though, you just have to do the best you can with where he’s at. Hard as it is, we can’t change people. Just keep plugging away, doing your best, send up some prayers, and then try to let it go. Much easier said than done, I know. Hang in there, you’re doing the right things for your family, and someday your husband will probably “get it”!
Did you say he WOULD drink raw milk? If so, then he’s WAAAY ahead of a lot of spouses! 🙂
Kelly
Rachel says
This is rather off topic. I’m relatively new to understaning helathy and real food. I’ve always tried to eat healthy but I’ve only been cooking for a family for 3ish years. Te really dificult thing is that myy husband thinks that I have gone crazy. He doesn’t care if I make changes so long as it takes up my time, tastes just as good and saves money. For the most part he thinks the benefit of organics is BS. He loves my new Bosch and homemade bread. Do you have any advice for helping him understand without harping on him? He’d being into drinking raw milk (which isn’t available here) but gets mad when I refuse to by cool whip!
Kelly says
Hi Kaye!
When people wonder why you eat real cheese instead of the processed junk, just show them the loooooong ingredient label full of nasty stuff that you often can’t recognize or pronounce! Then compare it to regular cheese that has 3 ingredients. 🙂
Kaye says
Kelly,
Could you direct me in how to find out what they actually do to processed cheese? I know it’s not good for us but I don’t know exactly why. I want to be informed when I’m telling my kids or others why we’re not eating it anymore.
Love your website!
Kaye
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Liz,
You’re so close, feel free to borrow my Bosch anytime!
Kelly
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Good job for saying something!
Michigan Mom2three says
Today, at Sam’s, there was a woman who was sampling “cheese and crackers” – you know the orange spread that you put on with the little plastic knife on a “club cracker”. She was going on and on about how GREAT this was as a snack for kids after school and how perfectly it packed in lunch boxes. She kept offering me a sample (we were stuck waiting in this intersection, so I was a captive audiance!) and she couldn’t understand why I didn’t want one. I finally politely declined one final time saying “I’d rather have a slice of real cheese, thank you.” I hope that I wasn’t rude….. but I was just tired of saying “no thank you”. I didn’t even WANT to taste that….. and ***I used to buy those cheese/crackers packages for my kids all the time when they were little! GAG!
Shauna
Liz says
Hi Kelly… I recently actually read the label on my shredded cheese and was beginning to wonder about the anti-caking ingredients. I just sort of sighed… it’s like one more thing that requires me to make a change. I don’t have the fancy Bosch or anything like that, but I’ve been getting out my hand grater more and more. I have to confess that it’s only been a couple of years since I last bought IWS cheese. I used to LOVE that stuff. Mike refused to eat it, but I insisted on it for a grilled cheese sandwich or an omelet. I was too snooty to ever buy Velveeta, but a jar of Cheese Whiz wasn’t safe from me! I acknowledged it was junk food, but indulged a few times a year. Now, I’m not sure if you could pay me to take a taste.
Michigan Mom2three says
Kelly, my farm is holding a cheese making class in Nov. – they’re going to teach us to make whole milk moz from our wonderful raw milk! The class is open to non-shareholders as well…. call me if you’d like info!
Shauna
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Health Guru,
I think years of processed foods can warp our sense of taste! But wow, you’re so right. Real butter, real cream, real ICED CREAM, mmmmm!
Shauna,
I don’t think the big hunks of all-natural cheese at Sam’s are SO bad anyway. Yes, raw is best, but it is SO expensive.
Julie,
Next time I see Nap. Dynamite, I’ll surely be watching for that scene so I can laugh!
Anna,
You were talking about mozz. cheese – the other problem with buying that shredded (or otherwise) is that it always says it’s made with skim milk – ick!
Health Guru says
This is actually one of the worst things people can eat. Honestly I don’t even like it, how come people eat processed food of any kind while real foods are waaaaay tastier and healthy.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Anna, you reminded me of something I should’ve mentioned in the post. I don’t worry about how it keeps in the frig, or wrapping it just so, instead I shred all my cheese as soon as I get it from the co-op, then freeze in baggies – usually 2 cups in each. Then I can just grab it out when I need it.
And I should really start slicing up my own cheese sticks for the kid’s lunches and freezing those…
Kelly
Anna says
Ahhhh, cheese, glorious cheese, one of our family's favorite foods. My husband loves cheddar slices to scoop up soft butter!
Grating cheese is a great job to give kids during dinner prep. But be sure to have extra cheese, LOL!
My 10 yo son is really, really resistant to most of my efforts to teach him to cook, unless it involves a big knife (in which case the result is a pile of tiny, irregular cuke chunk) or grating a hunk of cheese (and he eats a third of what he grates).
I can find pre-grated raw milk parmesan and romano that doesn't have added anti-caking ingredients, so I sometimes get that, but mozzarella usually has potato starch or such, so I buy balls of low moisture whole milk cheese and grate it at home just before using. A new ball of unopened mozzarella keeps a long time, too, unless it is a fresh cheese in brine. Mozzarella is pretty easy to make, too, and fun to stretch with kids. Lots of online tutorials.
And there is something very nice about passing a hunk of really good parmigiano reggiano with a hand grater at the table. Even though it is really expensive per pound, it is really flavorful, a little goes a long way, it keeps well (if wrapped properly), and hard aged cheeses have some really great nutrients (Grand Padano is a bit less expensive and also very good). In Italy, parmigiano is one of the first foods for babies. In my next life I want to come back as an Italian baby gumming on a parmigiano reggiano rind.
I'm like you, Kelly, cringing when I think of the time a while back when I loved those individually wrapped slices of processed "American" cheese, made with more vegetable oil and additives than milk. Uggh.
One of my pet peeves is improperly wrapped cheese. I hate finding a new block of cheese in the fridge, opened but put back in the original wrapper, now half dried out because of exposure to air. It's unsanitary, too.
When I buy cheese that is wrapped in plastic (wax is best but not always an option), I like to get it out of the plastic ASAP; if I am really on the ball, I do it when I get home from the store (then I don't have to rely on someone else to do it when they open the cheese. I keep a box of 500 greaseproof sandwich papers in the kitchen (from Smart & Final, a sort of non-membership restaurant supply store that is open to the public). Wax paper would work, too. I wrap the cheese loosely in the paper, then put it in a plastic bag or other airtight outer wrap. That allows any moisture or condensation to dissipate from the surface of the cheese without drying out the cheese; tight cling plastic keeps the moisture on the cheese, promoting mold growth. If I change the paper each time I use the cheese, I usually have very little mold to deal with.
Daniel R Levy says
If you do find dried out cheese or “cheese product” in the fridge but it’s not moldy, despair not. It’ll still melt into a roux based cheese sauce as a perfectly good base for macaroni and cheese.
Julie says
Kelly, couldn’t help think of the scene from Napoleon Dynamite, where Kip, the brother of Napoleon is grating a 10 pound brick of cheddar cheese (from Costco). What’s funny about it is he didn’t cut off a small chunk to grate for his quesadillas, but he is holding the whole 10 pound chunk and using an old fashioned hand grater. I may be the only person on the planet that thinks that is the funniest scene in the whole movie. It’s funny to me because of my days of buying in bulk at Costco, and yes, grating and freezing cheese. I never did buy velveeta though. I’ve gotten much more picky about cheese over the years-and you know why, because we aren’t feeding 4 hungry teenagers any more. I do relate and sympathize with households trying to feed growing bodies. Back then I would have loved to have had sites such as yours to lead me to the good places for quality and quantity.
Michigan Mom2three says
I have always shredded my cheese over the last couple of years. I buy what raw milk cheese I can from my farm weekly, but that is mainly for our “daily snack eating” (cheese cubes and apples or something), I still have to buy the big blocks from Sam’s. It’s simply what we can afford. I use a hand grater (yes, the old fashioned kind!) or my cheapie little “Salad Shooter” that I’ve had for over 10 years if I need to shred a bunch. I like the hand grater because a good run through hot soapy water and it’s CLEAN. I prefer my good quality knives to the fancy chopping gizmos for this reason to.
However Kelly – I LOVE my Bosch too, and I don’t have a slicer/shredder. It’s on my “wish list”. I imagine that once I get it, the hand grater may be a thing of the past!
Shauna