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I like cheese. It's delicious. Sometimes it goes on a huge sale and it's a lot cheaper than normal. I want to be able to stock up in these times.

I am wondering what the best way to store cheese is of different types (the 8oz blocks of softer cheeses or hard blocks of fancier cheeses).

It seems like I could freeze them, but I've had bad luck with cheeses becoming crumbly. Harder cheeses feel like you could refrigerate them forever without them going bad, assuming you either don't touch them or they stay unopened.

Is there a good way to store cheese without it going bad? And how long does it stay good if you store it?

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Sealed hard cheeses will indeed keep forever at 15 Celsius and below, unsealed they can go mouldy or so dry you can't cut them.

Soft cheeses can't be stored past their expiration date, they are a perishable product. (As always, the "freezer stops the clock" rule applies, but you already said you don't like the resulting texture).

In short, unless you have a dedicated cheese cellar, you can't do better than your fridge.

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  • I think it's important to distinguish between a sealed hard cheese (waxed all over from the factory) [good] and a "sealed" cut chunk of cheese that was cut and wrapped at the store[not so good.] I'm not really sure where "sealed in a plastic package from the factory" cheese falls, but likely between the two. Proper hot-waxing kills mold spores.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jun 24, 2016 at 19:50
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    I don't think I've had factory-plastic-sealed cheese go moldy, so I counted both that one and the waxed wheel as "sealed". Wrapped in foil at the store is not sealed in my dictionary, but good point - maybe somebody else thinks it is.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Jun 24, 2016 at 19:52
  • @rumtscho I've had factory-plastic-sealed cheese go mouldy when it's been done shoddily. Sometimes there's a tiny hole or perforation in the packaging during transport and it's easy to tell because some air gets in and it isn't airtight anymore. Bottom line, I always thoroughly inspect the packaging of the cheese, even if it's from the factory, to ensure it is properly sealed, especially if I intend to keep it for a while.
    – stanri
    Commented Jan 15, 2021 at 11:49
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I watched a survival show once and the presenter showed that melting wax and encasing the already opened cheese in wax would keep it safe for eating.

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When there is a good price on cheese we buy a lot. We will cut the cheese into sizes that were would use for the month. Then vacuum seal them and put them in our fridge. They have lasted for more than 2 years, and taste the same as when we bought it. You can also freeze it, if it has a high fat content. Saw this on a Rachel Ray show. We have had a vacuum sealer for more than 20 plus years and has done the job remarkably well.

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  • Do you do this with softer cheeses too?
    – enderland
    Commented Jan 16, 2021 at 14:46
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It is best to seal cheese in a Ziploc bag with the air pushed out with a damp cloth over the cheese to prevent it from hardening, then seal. Hard cheeses can have the crusted dried out part cut away and the rest is still good to eat. Cheese is best served at room temperature so be sure to cut what you would eat in one sitting and put the rest in the fridge in a sealed bag with a damp cloth over the cheese itself. This is assuming it is a high quality cheese. As for the soft cheeses, I'm not too sure about keeping them if they get moulded.

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