Cottage cheese is a great ingredient that is very tasty and creamy. It’s so good you had enough and stashed it away in your fridge, only to find, one week later, it back in your fridge. Does cottage cheese go bad?
Yes of course it does. If you’re unsure whether your cottage cheese is still good or already has gone bad, you’re in the right place.
In this article, we will cover all you need to know about cottage cheese, its shelf life, how to store it, and the checks for signs of spoilage.
Enjoy the read!
What Is Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is a fermented cheese, made from milk, enriched with enzymes that convert the milk sugars (lactose) into lactic acid. This lactic acid separates the curds from the liquids. The curds are the solids of the milk.
Cottage cheese is a fresh cheese, that doesn’t need to age like parmesan cheese. Other fresh cheeses are feta, mozzarella, ricotta, goat cheese, and so on…
How Long Does Cottage Cheese Last
We will start with a quick table for your convenience:
Cottage Cheese | Pantry | Refrigerator |
---|---|---|
Unopened | / | Sell-by date + up to 5 days |
Opened | / | Up to 1 week (7 days) |
As you can see, we like to keep things simple as cheese is a simple and good product.
As always, the periods from the table above give us an idea of what we can expect in terms of quality and freshness. Cottage cheese is a dairy-based product and is more perishable compared to other products. Don’t say, on GoodOrGoneBad they say it will be good, always check for signs of spoilage as this is general advice.
We will talk about unopened cottage cheese and opened cottage cheese.
How Long Does Unopened Cottage Cheese Last
When it comes to unopened cottage cheese, it will be good for up to 5 days after the date on the package. This can be a sell-by or best-before date as we’re talking about cheese here.
Cheese is a diary-based product and will separate over time. The longer it rests in the fridge, the more likely there will be separation. Don’t be scared of this as this is a natural phenomenon.
If the cheese is a few days past the date, it should still be good to eat, but don’t push it. If it’s more than a week, be careful.
Be more careful, if you’ve opened the cheese.
How Long Does Opened Cottage Cheese Last
Once you open the cheese, you give external threats like heat, air, moisture, bacteria, and odors the chance to get into the cheese and speed up the going bad of the cheese.
Once you open it, it should be good for up to 1 week when stored in the fridge. The closer to this date, be more cautious. Always try to finish it within a few days, if just for quality reasons. There’s a lot you can do with this cheese, you can use it in lasagna, make pancakes, and so on…
It can of course be good for longer than 7 days but I wouldn’t count on it.
A great tip is to store your cottage cheese upside down as this will slow down the bacteria growth.
Cottage cheese is a fresh cheese, which means that it hasn’t aged like parmesan cheese.
How To Store Cottage Cheese
As we’ve said before, cottage cheese is a dairy-based product and thus more perishable. Always store your cottage cheese in your refrigerator.
Don’t store it close to the door but closer to the cooling elements and try to consume it within a few days after opening.
Always seal the cottage very tight. If you’ve opened the cheese pack, you can transfer everything to another airtight container and make sure it’s sealed tight. Most cheese packages aren’t resealable, transferring is the only correct solution here, it requires some work but it’s worth it.
You could also wrap it into a plastic bag and seal that bag.
A great tip is to store your cottage cheese upside down in the fridge, to slow down bacteria growth.
We always say that you always store the cheese in the fridge. You can plan to eat everything the same day but you know that plans can always be changed, the quality and freshness of your cottage cheese can’t be changed of course.
Can You Freeze Cottage Cheese
Yes, of course, you can freeze cottage cheese, just like you can freeze other foods and drinks, but should you?
As always, we say this on GoodOrGoneBad because we want you to think about your inventory and what you’re about to freeze. Freezing means thawing. Thawing means when it comes to cheese, yogurts, and other dairy-based products, separation will change the texture.
Because of this, we’d say you use the frozen cottage cheese, after thawing of course, in other cooked dishes and not consume it directly. An easy and good dish is lasagna.
When you’re about to freeze the cottage cheese, make sure to:
- Divide it into single-serve portions
- Make sure it is sealed tight: place it into an airtight container, wrap it in a freezer bag or both
- Write down the correct date and time for freezing the cheese
- Close the freezer
After thawing, go and check for signs of spoilage.
How Can You Tell If Cottage Cheese Has Gone Bad
Dairy-based products, like cottage cheese, are more perishable and vulnerable to external threats compared to other products.
Guidelines for cottage cheese:
- Does the cottage have another color? If yes, throw it away immediately. This can be a sign of mold. That’s why we say to throw it away and don’t take any risks.
- Does the cottage cheese have a sharp smell? If you smell something funny or unpleasant, toss it away. It shouldn’t smell sour or off. Toss it away.
- How is the taste? Does it taste odd? Get rid of it.
Don’t be afraid when you see some separation as this is a natural process. Don’t eat it after thawing. If it is too watery, discard it. A little bit is okay.
On GoodOrGoneBad, we always like to pronounce that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Don’t take any unnecessary risks and be more cautious when it comes to cheese. Cheese doesn’t cost a lot of money and just buy another one in the store. Trust your senses and intuïtion, always when there’s doubt involved, toss it away.
Enjoy your cottage cheese!