Saving Money on Cheese

In our home, we eat more cheese than we should and our budget can feel the pain as cheese prices are increasing. One of the biggest ways we save on shredded cheese is to purchase cheddar cheese in chubs, those big logs you can find at savings clubs and warehouse stores like Sam’s Club, and shred it ourselves.

Saving Money on Cheese

So, do I save money when I purchase cheese in those large chubs?

Typically, I can purchase 8 ounces of cheese from my local Walmart or Winn Dixie for $2.50 a package. If the sale is really good, I can get it for $1.99 but that might only happen once a year. But, for the sake of argument, I will calculate the sale price of $1.99, making it $0.248 per ounce.

At Sam’s Club, a 5 pound chub of cheddar cheese is $12.72, making it $0.159 per ounce. Mozzarella is even cheaper at $0.144 per ounce.

Storing Bulk Cheese

When I get home, the chub goes into the refrigerator and then next day, I grab a large bowl, the cheese, and the shredder attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

After cutting the chub of cheese into manageable pieces, I feed them into the shredder. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer, and with the shredder attachment, it take just minutes to go through the entire chub.

Once the cheese is shredded, I package it in two gallon-sized freezer bags, placing one in the refrigerator and the other in the freezer.

If you do not like for your cheese to stick, you could toss it in a little cornstarch, although I find that if I leave a little air in the bag, sticking is not a sever problem.

Making Cheese Sticks

Those individually wrapped cheese sticks are such an easy snack for my children. They can practically serve themselves, but oh my! Pre-packaged cheese sticks are expensive.

So, I also purchase a cheese chub and slice it to make the cheese sticks myself.

Purchasing cheese sticks at my local Walmart costs about $0.37 per ounce. When I purchase a 2 pound block of Colby Jack cheese at Sam’s and slice it into snack-size sticks, the cost is only $0.18 per ounce. That is HALF the price!

So, how do you save money on cheese?