cheese, shelf stable (no fridge)

[Kaylee]

Here's some handy products that let you have cheese without refrigeration.

Some off-the-shelf cheese will last many weeks to months without refrigeration. Several (parmesan, "hard" cheeses) have been discussed in other threads.

A simple other variety is Jack Link's meat & cheese stick combo packs.
A 1.2 ounce pack costs a dollar at DollarTree, and Walmart carries a 9-pack of slightly smaller packs for about six and a half dollars.
These are perfect for adding to eggs!
I typically use one pack for two meals.
Shelf life is typically about six months.


Bega is a well respected brand of canned cheese from Australia:

nutrition & ingredients:

it was imported by a Wisconsin company, so it "must" be ok.

opened:

(that's a military "P-51" mini folding can opener beside it)

spread on bread:

after pan frying:

It has an interesting flavor and texture. Kind of half way between processed and medium sharp cheddar.
Amazon has them for about $6 per can (too pricey for me). I bought this for about $4 each, 6 and a half years ago. It's widely available at prepper sites, and you might be able to find a deal on older stock.
That's what I used during the Polar Vortex, so it was a fun treat.

Due to image count limitations, continued in next post...

 

[Kaylee]

Freeze Dried Cheese:

Here's a #2 can of freeze dried shredded Cheddar Cheese made by "Provident Pantry":

contents:

on crackers (not rehydrated):

in Quiche, before baking (beside regular shredded cheese):

in Quiche, after baking:

Tasted pretty good!
Bought it in the same batch as the Bega, and it was $12.95 for 10 ounces.

Continued in next post...

 

[Kaylee]

Here's the contents of a #10 can of freeze dried shredded Mozzarella Cheese made by "Augason Farms":

being rehydrated (together with some Augason Farms onions):

on a pulled pork pizza, before baking:

on a pulled pork pizza, after baking:

close up of pulled pork pizza:

There's more pics in the Grilled Cheese thread:
https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=35253

Tasted somewhat bland on its own, but was pretty good when part of something else!
Bought it last summer, and it was $34.47 for 30 ounces (available widely online, usually cheapest at Walmart and Amazon).

Opened, both are supposed to be good for around a year with no refrigeration required. The Cheddar has lasted much longer (I've been stress testing it). I have not yet finished either, but I'll be winding up a bunch of food life experiments, and will update accordingly, if possible.

With both of these products, I have not yet weighed any pre and post hydration, so I don't know what the final mass/weight works out to.
Research online shows claims of 4:1 so the above prices are inline with non-sale grocery prices.

Once I'm back in my van and/or reunited with my scale, I'll do some weighing.

 

[highdesertranger]

thanks for the reviews. really helpful information. highdesertranger

 

[Rainier70]

Great reviews. Thanks!

Another shelf stable type of cheese is the waxed mini-bell cheeses. They come in a variety of flavors.

You can also wax your own blocks of cheese with special cheese wax, and they will last quite awhile. Although they continue to age inside the wax. If I start with a mild cheddar it gets to sharp or medium sharp in about 6 months with no refrigeration. I wax small single serving cubes so that I don't have much leftovers. Unwaxed or opened cheddar is good for a couple of days or more depending on temp and humidity, also cleanliness.

 

[Gr8ful]

Believe it or not a this very moment I have a sealed 8oz block of extra sharp chedder in my shirt pocket as I love cheese but detest cold cheese I want warm oily flexable cheese. I sleep in a recliner so it will be perfect for lunch tomorrow. When we were married I was so poor we lived on boxes of mac & powdered cheese 7 for $1 & braunsquiger(sp?) aka liver sausage in 3' chubs for 39 cents per pound.

 

[Kaylee]

Rainier70: Fascinating! Do you have any pictures of your homebrew waxing stuff? More info, please.

Gr8ful: LOL! Now that's committed... and a big pocket!

HDR: Glad it was helpful! I gather you go Out further & longer than most. When I finally get Out There, I'll be 100% boondocking, so I did a lot of experimentation last year. I still have to post my canned B&M Bread review.

I should have mentioned that it takes about 15-20 minutes to rehydrate the FD cheese, and it typically has some excess water that should be drained/squeezed away.
My first FD-mozzarella & bacon grilled cheese sandwich was somewhat too wet. Not catastrophic, but if you look carefully at that pic, you can tell.
Some excess water isn't an issue when baked.
Both the Quiche and Pizza worked out really well. The cheese was suitably gooey.

The Augason Farms onions were somewhat disappointing, mainly in pizza. They were "ok" but not great in scrambled eggs.
Fortunately, real onions are widely available, inexpensive, and long lasting.

 

[Gr8ful]

Just enjoyed my warm soft cheese & it was so good. Cold cheese is a sin or should be.

 

[Kaylee]

LOL!!!
I'd never really thought about room-temp vs chilled cheese. Definitely more Van Dweller friendly!
As you can see, I'm particularly partial to melted gooey cheese.
I trust that meets your preferences?

 

[Kaylee]

Today, I made pasta with Treet canned meat, diced tomatoes (canned), and Parmesan cheese. It was good, but wasn't "quite" there.
Had enough from lunch for dinner, so rehydrated some mozzarella, added it, then nuked. Figured I wouldn't need to futz with squeezing out the excess liquid.
Wow, definitely pumped it up very well!

 

[Rainier70]

Here is an example of the babybel or mini bell cheeses. https://www.babybel.com/en-us/products I see them at grocery stores all the time, and they are quite good. They are great for hikes etc.

The cheese waxing process:

The wax is more flexible than regular paraffin. I think it has more beeswax in it. It is reusable. I probably bought mine at Amazon. Here is one example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064OLVF...9edb-7404ba8ff9a1&ie=UTF8&qid=1550714839&sr=1

For how to do the process, search on YouTube for some thing like waxing cheese at home, or waxing cheese for storage. There are dozens of videos. Watch several to get an idea of what best practices are. The idea is to seal the cheese air tight. Mold can't grow without the oxygen.

Be VERY careful heating the wax. I use a double boiler and a low heat. A crock pot would also work and be safer still.

I have also sealed cheese pieces in a vacuum sealer. They last well too, but getting a full air tight seal against the cheese is more problematic. So I only do it that way when I am in a hurry, and I am only storing it for a week or two.

One thing I should add, is that I only do this hard cheeses like cheddar.

 

[Gr8ful]

LOL!!!
I'd never really thought about room-temp vs chilled cheese. Definitely more Van Dweller friendly!
As you can see, I'm particularly partial to melted gooey cheese.
I trust that meets your preferences?

Me too, I really like cheese!

 

[Kaylee]

Rainier70: Fascinating - thank you!

Gr8ful: LOL! Yeah, it's amazing how even a modest amount of cheese really punches up even a simple dish.
Here's some porn of that pasta meal I made:

That's comprised 100% of "shelf stable" items.
Now that I'm getting close to re-uniting with my Van, and hitting The Road, that's on my list of stuff to make in the field.

 

[sushidog]

When I was a kid I grew up in an Italian home. We purchased large wedges of parmesan cheese (a fortune at today's prices but relatively affordable back then). We would cut these wedges up in manageable chunks and store them in a large Tupperware submerged under olive oil (also inexpensive back then) and would keep it unrefrigerated under the kitchen sink for months. If you messed up and left a piece sticking up above the olive oil, a little mold would form on the piece that stuck out. Just trim this moldy piece off and you were good to go. I'm sure cooking oil would work too, as it is so much cheaper. Just remember to pat the oil off the cheese before you grate it. Warning, this only works with low moisture cheese as botulism can result if high moisture content cheese is used!

I have fond memories of my 2 aunts, Josie and Rosie who would make fresh pasta for our large, extended family. We raised chickens so would bring them plenty of eggs to trade for some fresh pasta that they had hanging all over the house to dry. Nothing better than fresh pasta, made by hand, with some marinara sauce made with fresh tomatoes and basil right out the garden, with some parmesan cheese grated right on top in your pate. Brings back memories. Yum.

Chip

 

[Cammalu]

Yum is right


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lenny flank]

In my younger backpacking days, I always carried a block of mild cheddar with me. It seemed to stand up best to the abuse and weather. Mozzarella stayed edible for a while, but tended to "weep" a lot, which I didn't really like. Swiss also stood up pretty well but got a little oily.

 

[Kaylee]

Lenny, thanks and roughly how long was the mild cheddar good for?
I tried a one pound block last summer, in my warm-to-hot car, and it was fine for about a week, then degraded rapidly.

Had not heard that Swiss was fridgeless-friendly.
Yes on mozz, hence my splurge last summer on FD, when its price dropped suddenly (I use CamelCamelCamel for price tracking Amazon stuff).

Thanks & Hail sushidog, from the Land o' Cheese!

 

[lenny flank]

My cheddar blocks generally lasted around two weeks before they started getting .. unpleasant.

 

[Kaylee]

Lenny, I know exactly what you mean.

Speaking of cheese...

Over the last two weeks, I suddenly developed severe mac & cheese cravings, and one of the Prime Directives of Breakdown Club (of which I'm a Charter member) is that it's ok to indulge in Emotional Eating for the entire duration (plus two days) of said breakdown, so I indulged in some mac&cheese "deluxe" (i.e. the kind that comes with the squeeze pack of Velveeta/equivalent).
Sadly, I lacked two of the ingredients that really pump that up: SPAM and onion.

Here's how to make it if you are properly equipped:

Bon appetit:

Pro tips (all learned from much practice/mistakes):
Best not to salt the water for the pasta (there's more than enough in the SPAM & liquid-cheese); if you have one, thermos cook the pasta but do not add the cheese in the thermos (hard to clean).

That's one of my comfort foods that I'll be making, once I'm mobile again.

If anyone knows a source for just the liquid-Velveeta packets, please share. I'd love to make this with whole grain pasta.

Edit To Add:
I just remembered seeing some Velveeta pouches at Dollar Tree! They felt much less dense than regular deluxe-mac-liquid-cheese, but Science demands somebody test it.

 

[VanForNow]

Good points about mac & cheese, Kaylee. And I especially appreciate your photo of the Spam. As your photo illustrates, Spam tastes best when it is well fried on both sides, to the point of charring. It is a mystery to me how people can stand to eat mushy, tasteless, uncharred Spam.