If you are someone like me, then you usually buy more ingredients than you need and cook more food than the people in your household can eat. This leads to a lot of food left untouched that would be spoiled if we just leave it in the fridge. However, this won’t happen if you just freeze it. Yes, freezing your food will prevent it from going bad and you don’t have to eat it in a few days like when putting it in your fridge. You can leave it for weeks and even months and use it whenever you need to. That way you won’t have to throw away any food or buy food that you previously had an abundance of. You can freeze store bought products and even home cooked meals. That way once you buy something you can just freeze it and always have it at your disposal.
But can you freeze cream cheese?
Freezing cream cheese
So can cream cheese be frozen? The truth is that we often find ourselves buying cream cheese that we plan on using to make a dessert or something similar, but we eventually don’t find the time for it. Then we are left with a whole box of unopened cream cheese that we don’t know what to do with. You might put it in your fridge and plan to use it the next day, but you can easily forget about this plan or do not have the time the next day. So, the cream cheese in your fridge, as most dairy products often do, goes bad and you have basically spent your money for nothing.
The good news is that you can prevent all this by freezing your cream cheese. Yes, you can safely freeze it. However, remember that freezing cream cheese results in drastic changes in its composition and texture. That means that you won’t be able to eat it raw but only use it for cooking. It will still do an awesome job when you use it for example for baking but eating it as a spread on a piece of bread won’t be a pleasant experience. You will feel the texture and all the lumps in it. On the other hand when it melts during cooking – its texture also melts.
How to freeze cream cheese
Now that we answered can cream cheese be frozen positively, you probably want to know how to freeze cream cheese. The process of freezing cream cheese that you have already opened and one that’s fresh from the store is different. Firstly, if your cream cheese is unopened then you can go right ahead and put it straight in the freezer. The way cream cheeses are packed with foil and then again put in a box is going to protect them in the freezer as much as possible. When talking about an already opened cream cheese, the process is a little different. You have to make sure that you pack your cream cheese properly before putting it in the freezer.
Look for a container that can close nicely and that doesn’t let any air in or out. If you pack it according to the instructions, then you can keep it in the freezer for two months.
If you like cooking and baking then in two months you will definitely find a use for it. Thawing your cream cheese when you remove it from the freezer is a whole different process. Don’t take it directly from the freezer and onto your cooking table. Transfer it from your freezer to your fridge and let it sit there for a few hours. If you’re not in a rush you can also let it sit overnight. When cream cheese is frozen the ingredients in it might start to separate. After you remove it from the fridge use a spoon to mix it up a bit so all the ingredients come back together again.
Defrosted cream cheese
Can cream cheese be frozen? Yes, absolutely, but will your cream cheese have the same texture as before? No, not really. Defrosted cream cheese might have some lumps or curds that you wouldn’t want to find in your final dish. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t try bringing it back to life. We can’t guarantee that your cream cheese will look the same way as when you bought it, but you can try bringing back some of its creaminess.
We previously mentioned that you can use a spoon or a whisk to do this, but you can also use your microwave. Once the thawing process ends, take your cream cheese out of the fridge and put it in a bowl. Next, put it in your microwave for about 10 seconds. Take it out, mix it a little bit and repeat this process until you are satisfied with the way it looks. You can also use your stove to do the exact same thing. However, don’t put it directly over the stove because you can easily burn it. Take a pan fill it with water and then put another bowl in the water in which you put the cream cheese. This way of heating it up is a lot slower and gentler.
All in all, can cream cheese be frozen?
Yes, you can safely freeze your cream cheese and use it at a different time. However, make sure you use it during the next two months. After that, the cream cheese can go bad even in the freezer. But if you use it before that, frozen cream cheese can be an excellent ingredient for your home cooked meals. Yes, using it raw might not be a good idea but in reality we mostly use cream cheese for cooking anyway. You can use it to make cookies, cake, frosting and even pasta. There are so many uses for it. So the next time you have an excess amount of cream cheese, don’t be afraid, go ahead and freeze it!
