Velveeta cheese is a processed cheese made up of cheese, other dairy products and emulsifying salts and has a very high melting point.
You can eat it as is, use it as a cheese sauce, as a dip, or part of sandwiches and anything else that calls for cheese.
The manufacturer of Velveeta cheese doesn’t recommend you freeze it. Instead of it being velvety smooth, freezing can result in grainy or mushy cheese.
It can also encourage the other ingredients that make up this cheese to separate, making it watery, and in some cases, tasteless.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t freeze it.
How Do You Freeze Velveeta Cheese?
Despite the potential drawbacks of freezing Velveeta cheese, it is very easy to do so, and only takes a few minutes.
Just remember that the end product will not be the same as what you started out with!
With most food products, you can usually chuck the original packaging in the freezer, as long as it’s unopened.
That’s not the case for Velveeta cheese. Regardless of whether you’ve opened it or not, you need to transfer it into a suitable container, as the original packaging wasn’t designed for freezing.
Discard the original packaging, and you can either freeze the cheese block as it is, or cut it into smaller chunks.
Making it smaller will help with portioning it later, and it will take less time to defrost.
Wrap the cheese in cling film, making sure it’s airtight. Then store into a resealable freezer bag, making sure to get rid of any excess air.
Seal, write the freezing date, and then store in the back of the freezer, if possible. This will help make sure that the temperature will be constant, which will reduce changes in texture.
Do not refreeze Velveeta cheese. It’s clearly been through enough the first time! You should only use Velveeta cheese which has been frozen in cooking, where the texture change will be less noticeable.
The Shelf Life Of Velveeta Cheese
If you store Velveeta cheese in a pantry unopened, it will last a maximum of 3 weeks. If you leave it open, this will drastically reduce the shelf life, where it will only last about 3 days at most.
If you freeze Velveeta cheese, it will last up to 6 months in the freezer. For best results, use it within 3 months.
What’s The Best Way Of Thawing And Using Velveeta Cheese?
The best way of thawing Velveeta cheese is to put the whole thing in the fridge, and let it defrost overnight.
The slower you defrost it, the less dramatic the change in texture will be, though you cannot prevent the change entirely.
If you don’t have the time to spare to let it defrost overnight, you can put the cheese into the microwave.
You’ll need to cut the cheese into cubes if you haven’t already, and transfer into a microwaveable container.
Set it to high, and cook for 2 minutes at a time, until the Velveeta cheese is fully melted.
There is also an easier way. If you’re cooking a dish already, cut the frozen cheese into cubes and simply add gradually, allowing the temperature to climb back up before you add more.
Conclusion
You can freeze Velveeta cheese, so long as you intend to use it melted, it will still be fine.
Freezing Velveeta significantly prolongs the shelf life of this cheese, and as long as you plan on cooking it in some form or another, like using it in Mac And Cheese, the texture won’t be noticeable.
This still means that you can use the cheese for a myriad of dishes, while preventing food waste.
