The Issue You Need To Consider Before Freezing Cottage Cheese

While some folks shun the presence of cottage cheese, others can't wait to dig into the slightly sour, creamy bliss of this dairy product. Those in the latter group are probably well aware that it has a limited shelf life once it comes home from the store. Foods like this sometimes inspire folks to utilize the freezer to extend the product's usability. But with cottage cheese, you might not want to take that route if you plan on eating it by the spoonful or adding it to a dip.

Cottage cheese is full of water and when that gets frozen, it turns to ice. This will make it less creamy once you thaw it out, and it can also alter the flavor. However, if you plan on using cottage cheese for an upgraded lasagna or another dish where it's not the star, freezing it until you are ready to make meal works fine. The more fat in the product, the better the texture holds up after being frozen, so steer clear of low-fat varieties here.

Unopened cottage cheese is typically good for two weeks in the refrigerator, but once the lid is removed, you only have about five to seven days to enjoy it. Freezing it extends its usefulness to six months, so long you store it in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Still, there are some things you want to watch out for regarding the quality when it comes out of the icebox.

Thawing cottage cheese is as simple as transferring it from the freezer to the fridge. However, it takes up to 24 hours to completely defrost, so plan ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Once you are ready to transform the cottage cheese into a delicious flatbread or add it to a creamy pancake recipe, give it a quick inspection to make sure it hasn't turned bad. Even when stored in the freezer, cottage cheese can spoil. You will know it has gone off by giving it a whiff. No recipe is worth contracting food poisoning, so if any off-putting smells are coming from the container, it is best to toss it in the trash.

After it defrosts, there will likely be some water at the top of the container. This isn't necessarily a sign your cottage cheese has spoiled. You can stir it back into the rest of the cheese or dump it out and mix in some sour cream to regain some of the creamy consistency. The cottage cheese still won't be quite the same when eaten on its own, but the extra tang it still has might work well in recipes where it's blended in with a medley of other ingredients.