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What kind of cheese would last without going bad-this question is in preparation for my A.T. Thu hike in 2020
The sharpest cheese you can find. We used to use Cracker Barrel, nice size/shape and available almost anywhere. Or get individually wrapped cheese, including string cheese.
LoneStranger
06-15-2019, 13:30
The sharpest cheese you can find. We used to use Cracker Barrel, nice size/shape and available almost anywhere. Or get individually wrapped cheese, including string cheese.
Why not both? CB makes a great aged white cheddar that comes in wrapped sticks. You don't want to know what percentage of my food bag is comprised of these sticks, but I can vouch for how well they hold up to extreme, real world conditions and remain "edible" :)
I'm partial to the wrapped sticks when it's likely to be warm - keeps the oil contained.
Puddlefish
06-15-2019, 14:14
Babybel, Laughing Cow, plain old mozzarella sticks, that cheap crappy single serve cheddar sticks wrapped in thick plastic. At worst, it only lasts a day or two before it gets nasty looking and unappetizing, but it probably won't make you sick, and you've had delicious cheese for two or three days, or longer if the weather is cooler. I started out kind of picky, and after the hiker hunger kicked in, got much less fussy about buying convenience store cheese.
Feral Bill
06-15-2019, 14:55
Smoked Gouda does well.
Not sure if you can get this in the US, but we usually carry chunks of Swiss Emmentaler and a similar type of Austrian cheese, in vacuum sealed plastic. Its basically one of our main staple when hiking.
During the last desert hike I carried several chunks for 6 weeks in the pack, day and night, hot and cold, and it was still tasty, even as it was smelling worse than my trailrunners towards the end-of-life.
You can easily poison yourself with spoiled fish or meat, but nearly impossible to do so with rotten cheese.
Slo-go'en
06-15-2019, 15:03
Nothing to worry about until it starts to get consistently hot out.
When it does get hot, wrapping block cheese in cheese cloth works surprisingly well for some reason.:-? Or in a pinch, brown paper bag if you can find one these days. With cheese cloth or paper bag, they absorb the surface oil and makes a thin crusty layer which is much less prone to getting moldy or slimy. This method does require the cheese to be also carried in a mesh bag so it can dry out.
Kraft mac n cheese minus the mac, as Baltimore Jack used to call it orange death powder. That and Twinkies will get you to 2025. :p
Hard cheeses with a rind last the longest. There was a longer thread about 18 months back asking this same question.
cliffordbarnabus
06-15-2019, 23:42
the harder the cheese, the longer it'll go.
the more individually packed, the longer it'll go.
The Legion used to carry and subsist on Locatelli pecorino made from sheep’s milk on Sardinia - pretty good stuff and available at Safeway or other big food stores. My fav to day is “unexpected cheddar” from Trader Joe’s.
cmoulder
06-16-2019, 06:10
For your consideration, baked cheese bites such as Moon Cheese and Trader Joe's Cheese Bites.
Puddlefish
06-16-2019, 06:53
For your consideration, baked cheese bites such as Moon Cheese and Trader Joe's Cheese Bites.
Neat, I'd never heard of this before.
greensleep
06-16-2019, 10:05
For your consideration, baked cheese bites such as Moon Cheese and Trader Joe's Cheese Bites.
I am a cheese lover. Last year I ordered a case of "Moon Cheese' to use as lightweight hiking food. I gave most of it away as it tasted like salty cardboard with a cheese flavor, to my old taste receptors.
Traillium
06-16-2019, 10:40
I am a cheese lover. Last year I ordered a case of "Moon Cheese' to use as lightweight hiking food. I gave most of it away as it tasted like salty cardboard with a cheese flavor, to my old taste receptors.
The several packages I’ve tried haven’t even had the cheese flavour … I haven’t tried it as a fire starter yet.
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iceaxe56
06-16-2019, 11:42
Just scrape the mold off and enjoy.
Captain Panda
06-16-2019, 14:47
The harder the better. Some hard cheeses don't ever require refrigeration.
Make your own "Moon Cheese" by melting tablespoons of parmasean cheese in the oven. Sort of like crackers. Lasts a long time hiking.
bigcranky
06-16-2019, 15:42
Cabot Seriously Sharp is great. Or any kind of cheese stick will also last a while.
HighlandsHiker
06-16-2019, 20:42
Go for the hard white Italian cheeses. Last year I found some in my grocer's deli section that was individually wrapped - it said "keep refrigerated" but I figured what the heck. Put it, a salami, a sleeve of wheat crackers, and a couple cans of wine into a resupply bucket that was mailed to Muir Trail Ranch on the JMT; we're talking almost a month, including several days with the bucket sitting in a shed in the sun at MTR. I can tell you how delicious it all was - including the cheese - as we noshed riverside. Lots of jealous looks from fellow hikers!
Gambit McCrae
06-17-2019, 09:05
What kind of cheese would last without going bad-this question is in preparation for my A.T. Thu hike in 2020
I get the single serving packs of chedder and they work great. Zero mess and they keep for the length of my trip bc they arent unsealed until i eat it.
kolokolo
06-17-2019, 10:00
I get the single serving packs of chedder and they work great. Zero mess and they keep for the length of my trip bc they arent unsealed until i eat it.
My experience also. I took some single servings of Cheddar Jack on my weeklong section hike last month and they were fine. I even had a few left over that I brought home and ate later.
In all seriousness - try Velveeta cheese spread. It's actually really good on crackers and keeps fantastically well. I'll also add it to meals with rice, etc because it melts well and adds a lot of calories.
I always have some sharp cheddar in my food bag. Last summer I tried the paper bag method that's been mentioned before. Never again; made it taste awful.
TX Aggie
06-19-2019, 10:00
If you can handle eating straight Parmesan, it will last a very long time as it is one of the harder cheeses.
Many are surprised to learn that most European hard cheeses are actually aged at a (relatively) warm temperature for extended durations, year’s to be precise.
Someone else mentioned smoked Gouda, this has the advantage of both smoke cured and the fact that it’s a stable cheese.
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