We’ve been grating our own blocks of cheese for awhile now, but I thought it might be good to share. It’s so helpful to have staple food items on hand. So, instead of buying small plastic bags of pre-grated cheese, we buy large blocks, grate them, store them in Pyrex containers, and keep them in the freezer. This way, they last longer, and we always seem to have cheese on hand when we need it for a recipe.
The great part about this method from an environmental standpoint, is a decrease in the individual plastic bags that pre-grated cheese is usually sold in. Another benefit is avoiding the cellulose found in pre-grated forms. While cellulose itself isn’t bad, too much of it can be; there’s often not much monitoring as to how much cellulose in a bag is being used as filler, in place of genuine cheese. And, the third benefit, as always, is cost. Pre-grated bags will almost always work out to be more money, even when there’s a sale.
So, how to grate all that cheese? Freezing the block of cheese for a bit before grating is known to help. If you’re lucky enough to have a fancy kitchen gadget like a food processor or Kitchen Aid mixer, they often have attachments that will help with grating cheese or vegetables quickly. If not, it’s a little bit of a workout, but once it’s done, you’ve got yourself a bunch of cheese at the ready! And that, my friend, is always a good thing!
(Photo at top is from a 2 lb block of cheese)