What Happened to 2% Cheese?

[BakerAunt]

In the past, I have bought cheddar cheese made with 2% milk to use in casseroles. It was made my Kraft, and came in a block. I think that I've also seen in sold shredded, and not just marketed by Kraft. I wanted to buy some today for a casserole I plan to try. However, I could not find it at Aldi's, or Walmart, or Kroger, or Martin's--the four supermarkets in the larger town where we do major grocery shopping, and of course I could not find it in the store here in our little town.

Did Kraft stop making and selling 2% cheese? Did it contain an additional ingredient that was a problem? Or is it perhaps that it does not sell well in cheese-loving rural Indiana? When we moved here, one of my husband's colleagues teased us that people in Indiana put cheese--and lots of it--on everything.

I'll substitute part-skim Mozzarella for the cheddar, so that will give me a cheese lower in saturated fat, and it may even work better for that recipe. I'm just puzzled that 2% cheese, which I found easily in the city in which we lived in Texas, does not seem to exist here.

Spread the word

      

  

  

• This topic was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.

[chocomouse]

My impression is that people everywhere in the US put cheese, and lots of it, on everything!! In my frequent travels, eating out in restaurants (and we don't do fast food) I often find that many if not most of the items on the menu are loaded with cheese. Now, we often go to a grocery store to buy raw veggies, fruit, hummus, sliced meats, and yes, cheese which we eat in our hotel room. And we usually can find some interesting local cheese to try.

Baker Aunt, you could send an email to Kraft and ask about their 2% cheese. I'm sure they would respond to you.

[Mike Nolan]

The Kraft website seems to indicate 2% cheese is still available, it may be a regional issue, or related to not being in an urban area.

The last few times I've been in NW Illinois, where I grew up, the grocery stores seemed to carry a lot fewer products than what I can find in Lincoln. And when I'm in the Pittsburgh area visiting my son, the products available there are quite different, and it's not just different brands.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by Mike Nolan.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Depending upon who you read dairy fat is not as evil as it once was and in some cases it is a good thing. I've spoken with a number of people on low/no carb diets recently and at least at the start of those you increase your fat in an effort to train your body to use fat and not store it.

I'm amazed at the number of variants of this diet and the number of people I encounter in my travels who are following one of these variations. We can still find part skim mozzarella but what we cannot find is Polly-O part skim mozzarella. It went away here when they were purchased by Kraft. We can still find Polly-O cheese sticks but not the 1 lb. blocks of cheese. It still appears to be available just not here.

[BakerAunt]

I will have to look for 2% cheese when we are in different areas.

The dairy fat issue is confusing--and I'm not convinced that it has been settled. In the past, I mostly did low-fat dairy because I used so much butter in my baking, and I hoped to offset it somewhat. I did switch from non-fat to 1% milk a couple of years ago and will not change back. My issue is that I had such a high LDL cholesterol number that the doctor tried to put me on Lipitor, and I asked for time to try lifestyle change, which the CMA (they never let you talk to the doctor), after communicating with the doctor, said I could try for three months until they re-test me. All she said was low-fat diet and exercise--no help--and I was also judged Vitamin D and calcium deficient, so I need more dairy in addition to supplements. I consulted a friend's daughter who has her M.A. in Dietetics and recently became a P.A. (She became a P.A. to help people BEFORE they are in negative health situations.) She said to focus on keeping saturated fat to less than 11g per day, so that is what I am doing, and to include exercise. I'm also eating more beans and have increased fruit and vegetables. I've kept eggs. I use more canola oil and more olive oil. Low-fat cheese gives me flexibility in how I stay below 11g. I've cut out almost all butter, although I may make an exception for a rare pie. As 1 Tbs. butter = 7g saturated fat, a single scone would put me close to the limit, and pie, oh, my.

The new food plan (and exercise) is for lowering cholesterol, but I have lost about 8 pounds in the twelve weeks since I began it, and pants have a better fit now.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I can't stand the way part-skim mozzarella melts, so I buy whole milk mozzarella in 5 pound bags at Sams Club and divide it up into smaller bags (around 12 ounces) and freeze it. That's the ONLY place in town I can find whole milk mozzarella. (I know several of the local pizza chains use it, but they buy in bulk from wholesalers, or possibly directly from Leprino Foods, the nearly invisible Denver company that supplies cheese to many of the major pizza chains. It's so secretive that when Forbes did a story on it recently, they could not locate a picture of James Leprino, the CEO, and he wouldn't allow photographers into the building.)

[Author]

Posts