You know, the plastic rectangular packages, with the “press and seal” (I use that loosely) closure. I get 4 slices, close it as carefully as I can, and 2 or 3 days later, mold. Sargento, store brand, Kraft, cheddar, Havarti, muenster, it doesn’t matter. Would it help to put their bag in another baggie with a better seal??
I take it out of the original packaging and put it in a heavier (e.g. freezer type) quart ziploc, and I’ve had cheese keep for weeks with no visible mold. it’s possible there’s too much (non-cheese) moisture present or the temperature in your fridge is too high.
Take them out of the bags and just wrap them in wax paper or parchment, and not super-tightly. Plastic bags trap moisture which encourages mold.
I leave them in the regular package. It takes a couple of weeks before I notice any mold.
Clearly you’re not eating them fast enough!
You don’t say if you are putting them in a refrigerator or not. If not, try doing so. If you are, are you sure it is cold enough?
The short time frame you quote for this foodstuff to remain mold-free is outside of my experience and, clearly, many other people in this thread. Let’s work on this:
1). What date of sale, good by is printed on this package? Are you well within that date, or are you buying almost expired discount foods?
2). Is the store diligent in storage, and is it clean and well-managed in general? Look, you can buy your dry goods wherever its cheapest. But I buy fresh meats at the cleanest, best operated stores. And over processed, but soft fresh, food such as this should be middle of the road, but try buying from the best store and see if the problem goes away, so you now know the source.
3). Pull your purchases from the back of the display case, where the fridge is coldest, to be sure you’re getting the best preserved food. Store it promptly, in a cold fridge. Just do this until we iron down what could possibly be wrong.
4). So if I understand: Brand new package. Break seal. Take 4. Re-store in fridge.
Then 2-3 days later undisturbed – mold. On one slice? The whole stack? Or is something else happening?
5). Washing your hands before handling food that you don’t cook before eating? If mold is an occasional problem, you may want to thoroughly clean the fridge before you start storing food in there again.
Or switch to non-processed artisan blue cheese, like Stilton or something that’s already moldy on purpose. Let those bugs fight whatever’s living in your fridge.
What? You want answers, I’m trying everything.
This was my thought. Is sliced cheese the only thing that grows mold quickly for you?
If you are washing your hands during sandwich preparation make sure that your hands are dry when you pick the cheese out of the package.
I open the package, take out cheese slices, and re-wrap what’s left in saran wrap, tightly, to keep it from drying out, but it doesn’t hang around in the refrigrator for more than a week or two. I think it will get moldy no matter what you do. (I sometimes keep it in the freezer all wrapped up tight, for making grilled cheese or using in cooking, but that way it turns stiff and crumbly if you want to make sandwich with cold cuts.)
Kroger’s, and the expiry date is fine, in fact, that’s part of what irritates me is that it molds way before the date. The reefer is almost new, holds everything else very well, and no, block cheese lasts a good long time.
It sounds like moisture is being trapped in the cheese container. Try to wrap in wax paper which let the moisture out better. Another idea is to soak a paper towel in vinegar and put a piece of that in with the cheese.
I’ve never had any luck with keeping those things either. They get moldy way too fast. As you said, I’ve never had trouble with block cheese getting moldy that fast.
How clean is your refrigerator? In the past, I’ve had problems with water collecting in the the drainage trough.
I think your fridge needs a thorough cleaning. I buy those cheese slices (Sargento) with the cheap packaging. Oftentimes, when I grab the package out of the fridge, I’ll notice the package became opened (Or I never managed to close it properly in the first place).
Never had any issues with mold.
Yep, clean the fridge. I buy giant packages at Sam’s club. Keeps for weeks in the meat drawer in my fridge. In humid climates the fridge needs cleaning more often in my opinion. After clean wipe every surface with diluted bleach solution and let air dry. Pay special attention to the rubber gasket on the doors.
All of the above makes sense. Another thing to try is vacuuming the coils on the back of your fridge. It is probably not keeping things cold enough.
And be aware of the amount of time the cheese spends out of the fridge. Grab your cheese from the package and put the rest straight back in the fridge. Don’t leave it out on the counter while you make/eat the sandwich.
Zen advice: Change your name to FungiCladHands to bring congruency between self and your cheese-handling consequences.
I buy them all and have no problem. Sargento particularly. I like their Swiss. Close it up and it lasts as long as I don’t finish it off. I can put a chunk of cheese in a plastic bag and forget about it in the back of the deli drawer, and it will still take 3 or 4 weeks to start to deteriorate. Put a thermometer in your fridge and see.