Cream cheese? Philly cream cheese to be exact

I can buy my philly in 2kg blocks from the bulk food store in town and I was hoping I could cut it into 250g blocks and freeze them individually .... will this change the substance of the cream cheese - the savings for the 2kg block are great but not if Im going to waste 3/4 of the block..

thanks in advance

Fiona

Hmmmm, good question Fiona! I've never tried to freeze cream cheese before, but something tells me it would be fine. How about buying an 8 oz. block of cream cheese, freezing it, and thawing it a week later, just to see how it does? I would say you can freeze it no problem, but I'm no expert. Let us know if it works out okay!

Frozen cheescake taste great when it is defrosted. Since it is made with cream cheese, I would assume there should be no problem.

I have frozen other cheeses before and they were OK. Just make sure there is no air in the packaging.

I found this info at a cooking site...

"Cream cheese will freeze well only after it's
mixed with eggs, etc (that's why cheesecakes
freeze well). When you freeze it by itself,
the liquid will separate from the solids and
the end result is crumbly and not good for
the spreadables. Theoretically, you can
freeze it and use it but it'll only be good
if you're mixing certain things with it like
spinach or mushrooms, etc."

But, I'd try it to see what happens.....

You know Kaycee... that makes lots of sense. What was I thinking?

If you buy soft cream cheese in a tub and put it in the back of your fridge, it separates. Sorry Fiona about the bad info!

Good news is that if you buy the big block and make lots of items with it, you could freeze and then have all of this food prepared ahead of time!

2kg of cream cheese, thats an awful lot of cheese cake if I use it all at once, but I guess I go through 250g per week in normal daily use (without cheesecakes and such) so I could probably get through it and make some serious bulk cheesecake for the freezer.... hmmmm good idea guys .....

The other thing from what Kayceecan said in her post is that its not good for spreading but should therefore be ok for cooking cause you have to beat it when you are making cakes etc .... hmmmmm food for thought here

Thanks guys I will give it a shot!

Fiona

I found that if I have a sauce that's too liquidy by adding an ounce of cream cheese to it, it becomes a very nice cream sauce!
Mmmm.

My Mother-in-law freezes the boxed Philly cream cheese all the time. You just have to let it thaw before use.
Mine is never around long enough to freeze...but maybe I'll try it and let you know!