Who grates cheese anymore?

[gunsandbanjos]

I accidentally got into a conversation with a woman I don’t know at work today and whilst regaling us with the fact that she never chops anything and buys all veg pre chopped, she seemed aghast that anyone bothers to grate cheese and why would you when you can buy it pre grated.

Maybe because it’s covered in potato starch, expensive and not great quality?

Am I the only cheese grater left?

ewww no.... I grate and chop my cheese and veg. (sorry I tell a lie I did buy pre crushed garlic.)

my mum swears by the pre chopped stuff... but I find it all tastes a bit funny... a bit bland/stale. she also buys the frozen mash...it comes in sort of pellets and tastes funny.

I use it but only for cooking, tastes horrible on a sandwich

I haven't grated cheese, apart from Parmesan, for years. Fuck that shit.

The kids are the only ones who eat it so the taste isn't something that concerns me.

I do chop my own veg though. I have no clear idea why. Maybe I'll start buying it ready chopped.

I don’t buy grated cheese but I love the frozen packs of chopped carrot, celery and onion (together) from Waitrose. Great base for pretty much everything.

Morrison's now also stocks this now. And a much finer dice than I can be arsed with manage too.

Frozen prepared means less waste. Agree with pp about plastic bags too.

If you've only got twenty minutes to prepare a meal, you can either painstakingly prepare your own for every step and have a limited repertoire, or let the supermarket do some and free up your time to make something more complicated and therefore have a greater repertoire.

Although I use a range of chopped vegetables, I always cut up my own meat. That's partly for cost (margins greater for more expensive goods) and partly for preference. I don't fillet from a whole animal or anything but I don't buy eg diced beef or "stir fry chicken".

Bet the OPs colleague is the type of person M&S were thinking about when they decided to slice cauliflowers up to sell at £2 a slice as 'cauliflower steak'.

I understand that pre chopped veg can be useful for people with mobility issues, and that some people have plenty of money so they can pay for the convenience, but both prechopped veg and ready grated cheese looks a bit shit and dried out in the shop really so I wouldn't buy it unless I couldn't chop my own.

And it's expensive in most cases and was always a target on Eat Well for Less for the 'if we didn't spend hundreds of pounds a week on food we throw in the bin we could afford to take the kids on holiday' participants.

pre-grated for easy pizza malking with the kids, and parmesan for pasta, otherwise blocks all the way. especially for cooking - I want flavour, and until they sell pre-grated vintage cheddar, I'll grate my own.

I'll definitely look into frozen butternut squash. I hate chopping them.

Also frozen chopped onions - no more tears. I already buy puréed garlic.

Whole Foods has a prechopped fresh veg pic'n'mix. It's a great idea if you're single because you don't end up with loads of waste/a freezer full of veg! But far too expensive if you're shopping for a family.

metro.co.uk/2015/11/20/vegetable-pick-n-mix-is-a-genius-idea-5514591/

Cauliflower steak story is here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42639479

I've never bought grated cheese or chopped veg.

Don't worry. The year is but young.

I felt incredibly guilty this week because I tried to order pre-chopped shallots (they were out of stock) but I really really hate peeling sodding shallots!

Grated cheese is just weird and also I don't always want it grated, does she buy two different cheeses?!

Our local farm shop has frozen veg pick and mix too and it's probably much cheaper than whole foods.

They also have the same for croissants, pan au chocolat, fruit pastries etc.

I’m a grater and a chopper, cannot understand how you would prefer (and afford) to cook prechopped or pregrated stuff.

I've just thought that parmesan is the only cheese I grate. I prefer slabs of cheese in my sandwiches thank you very much.

I only buy pre-grated pizza cheese - purely for the kids pizzas. And pre-chopped onions and frozen, peeled shallots.
Because I make soup all the time and chopping onions is a pain and peeling shallots takes forever!
But pre-grated cheddar tastes awful.

I've never bought pre grated cheese or pre chopped vegetables.

I don't think I've ever had pre grated cheese except for if I've purchased ready made pizzas which already have the cheese grated on. I don't see the point in spending the extra money for the 'added value' of not having to grate it!

I do however buy the little sprinkle pots of powdery parmesan cheese if that counts?

Grating cheese is my no1 hated cookery job. But none of the ungrateful fuckers here will eat pre-grated so a lifetime of grating drudgery awaits me

I used to buy ready chopped carrot batons...what a fool I was!

Every now and then I notice my big sack of onions is getting a bit long in the tooth and chop/freeze my own (or, in a fit of real organisation, did it with carrots/celery and had little pods of flavour ready to go into my lentil soup for weeks)

But I always seem to have a freezer too small to waste on buying chopped onions/garlic, even though I totally see that it would be convenient

I've never bought ready grated - have always assumed it's the soapy, tasteless, mild stuff.
I grate a lot of extra mature cheddar - I have a Mouli type cylinder grater, not so easy to find nowadays, but makes the job so much easier. I hate those box graters that grate your fingers if you're not careful.

I buy pre grated cheese but reading this has been an epithany.. no more! Only problem is grating ruins your nails...

I always grate cheese and chop veg. I don't mind doing it as I love cooking.

I use a grater that sits on a tub. DH always uses the food processor. I don't because I would rather wash up the grater than the food processor bowl and blade.

I have tried frozen onions but they always go watery. I have tried defrosting them in the microwave, letting them defrost in the fridge and cooking from frozen but nothing makes a difference. I didn't like them so have stopped buying them

Does no one purposely buy grated mozzarella for homemade pizzas? I buy blocks generally but the balls make your pizza soggy! So I buy the grated stuff it's much better! And no, not for the kids!