Stopped buying pre-shredded cheese 2 months ago and my grocery bill dropped $12 a week

I used to grab those bags at Aldi without thinking. Now I spend 5 minutes with a block of cheddar and a grater, saves me money and the shredded stuff has that weird powder coating anyway. Anyone else notice how much more you get from a block?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia6341mo ago

The powder coating thing is what gets me. That stuff is basically wood pulp or something to keep it from clumping. So you're paying for literal sawdust on top of less cheese. How much are you actually saving per week now that you switched? I bet the numbers are even better than you think once you factor in what you were throwing away from the bags going moldy before you could finish them.

derek991mo ago

Actually, the powder coating isn't sawdust exactly, @patricia634. It's usually cellulose or potato starch mixed in to keep shreds from clumping together. You're still paying for filler though, no argument there. A standard 8oz bag of pre-shredded has maybe 6oz of actual cheese once you account for that coating and the extra air. Since I switched to blocks, I'm saving roughly $1.50 a week on just cheddar and mozzarella, plus zero moldy bags sitting in the drawer for three weeks. The block keeps way longer in the fridge if you wrap it right, so the math really adds up over a month.

thompson.tyler1mo ago

Dang, that's a solid point about the moldy bags. I've definitely been there, @derek99, and it's a bummer realizing you're just throwing money away like that. The whole filler issue makes pre-shredded feel like a ripoff once you actually look at the numbers.

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