Eat it faster? Try cranking the frig up to a colder temp? My new frig is much colder and has better seals and each drawer has it's own temp control. I have SO much less spoilage than with my old frig.

Just found this from Mother Earth News:

February/March 2001
Easy Mold Retardant

A secret trick to delay mold formation in cheese using vinegar.

Because my partner and I have started eating less meat, we find ourselves eating more cheese. We try to buy the cheeses in bulk or blocks because it's less expensive, but we found it would often develop mold long before we could eat it. To resolve that problem, we wrapped the cheeses in-what else? - cheesecloth. But here's the secret trick: we wet the whole bundle down on all sides with plain white vinegar and keep the moistened bundles in a plastic Ziploc in the fridge. As long as the cheesecloth is kept damp with vinegar, we have found that mold takes much longer to form. I keep all of my cheeses in one or two bags and remoisten them with vinegar as needed. You can also cut the labels from the packages and rubber-band them to the individual chunks. This step isn't necessary, but it saves you from having to unwrap each bundle to distinguish cheddar from colby! Furthermore, the cheesecloth is very inexpensive and reusable, just wash with hot soapy water and hang to dry. When it becomes threadbare, use it to tie up your tomato plants or toss it in the compost. Good of cheesecloth, who woulda thought?

SAM MCFARLAND
Turlock, California

I've heard vinegar before too..

Don't touch the cheese with your hands. This really works for us. DD and DH are cheese lovers so we always have a large quantity of cheeses in the refrigerator.

I leave my cheese in the original plastic wrap, then wrap in waxed paper, then foil and then put in a ziplock bag. I find it lasts and extemely long time this way (at least for us anyways). I then put it in the top drawer of my fridge, which is a smaller drawer than the other two in my fridge.

Shelley

I agree try not to touch the cheese with your bare hands.
I bring mine home and seal-meal-it into smaller portions. That works really well for us. Cheese doesn't last long around our house. LOL

Linda

The cheeze should not be getting mold in that short of time unless you don't wrap it. Heres what I do and I have a chunk that has been in the frig for about 2 months.

Cut off what you want to eat then take a piece of plastic wrap, lay it out flat, put cheese on one end and keep turning it over to the end, then fold the left and right edges over.

What you're doing is driving out all the air and literally sealing it. You can do it faster than you can read this.

I used to work in a cheese store and mold is always an issue with fresh cheese. We used to have cheesecloths with dampened vinegar water to cover the little goodies at night. Mold = lost $$s in a store. But note, you just need to cut the mold off if it happens; the cheese has not gone bad.

I have also used vinegar on a damp paper towel to wrap a piece of cheese that then goes inside a ziplock. I've had a good cheddar for two months that way. It does not affect the flavor of the cheese. Maureen

I wrap the cheese in a paper towel then put it in a ziplok bag. Each time I use it, I replace the paper towel.

I'll try the vinegar thing and see how that works. As for not touching it I've tried that as well but it didn't work. Thing is, sometimes I can buy a block and scarf it within a few days, the next time I buy some, eat a bit then the rest will sit there. Once I see that first bit of mold it's toast, the whole block, even though I know I'm throwing away good cheese I won't touch it. Gives me the willies LOL

My first "real" job was working at a cheese store also, and the mold was just cut off with a cheese slicer.
I wrap mine in wax paper then into a ziplock bag. Unless it is a large piece, which I cut into smaller pieces and seal in the foodsaver.
Good to know about the vinegar soaked cheesecloth. I'll use this method from now on.

The stuff you see on the surface is just the fruiting body of the mold. Invisible parts, the hyphae, are growing throughout the cheese.

I vacuum-seal it if it's going to be around for long enough to collect mold.

My husband always says that it's not safe to cut off the visible mold and keep the rest--that there are invisible mold threads that penetrate the part of the food that looks good. This discussion inspired me to Google that, and I found something useful. Apparently it is safe to demold some kinds of cheeses, but not others. The link is from the Mayo Clinic. ;o)I

Here is a link that might be useful: Mayo on moldy cheese

As the resident cheese lady....touching the cheeses has nothing to do with the growth of mold...if your hands are clean. And cheese is fine even if it has a bit of mold on it...cut it off...or not.
A simple rule is if the mold is red....toss the cheese, if it's blue...not to worry.
Vinegar inhibits mold growth.
BUT...watch where you buy your cheese., If it's been molding that fast, chances it had the mold spoors on it before you got it. The spoors from a blue mold cheese...blue, roquefort, stilton danablue ro whatever are very pervasive. If you have bought from a cheese store that was not very very careful, your cheese will mold in a blink!
I cringe when I see a display of a cut wheel of a blue cheese and a Swiss...because I know that the Swiss will soon be a goner!
I find that the cryovac-ed chunks from Sam's last a good long time...unless I put the opened package on the same tray with some Maytag blue!
Years ago my husband visited a Camembert cheese factory...but they wouldn't let him in. He had on dress clothes, he was not physically the one that made the cheese, but they said that he had enough of the blue mold spoors clinging to his clothing that he may have contaminated their operation.
As for what Mayo said....if a soft cheese has blue mold, it's safe to eat...that's how they make cama-blue. But the question is how do you know for sure that it's the pennicilum roqueforti?
PK....when you buy a block of cheese....cut off a reasonable chunk....then wipe the rest in vinegar, and then wrap in foil with the foil closly against the cheese....no air spaces!....smooth the foil over the cheese really well...
Mold needs air to grow in your cheese.
Linda C

pkguy: Years ago I would put a few drops of vinegar on
cosmetic sponge ( not used )and put it into the Cheese container.
It kept the cheese fresh.
I haven't had any mold problem lately but if I did ,
all I would do; if it is a Hard Cheese, is cut the mold off,
Don't cut near the mold,so you don't contaminate the knife.

If the cheese is a soft cheese, Rigotta, Feta, Etc.
Throw it away
LOU

Given linda's story about her DH being not allowed to go into the factory, this crossed my mind: if the cheese is molding in your fridge that fast, maybe the mold spores are now in the fridge and part of the problem at this point?

Not saying you have a dirty fridge! Just that the spores might be present in the fridge at this point in the game.

I've always rewrapped the cheese in wax paper, then a zipper bag with all the air squeezed out. Only had mold on cheese a couple times, and it was usually with feta so I tossed it.

If you eat any blue mold variety of cheeses, you have blue mold spoors in your refrigerator.
I don't believe the mold spoors in the refrigerator are the problem...but the mold spoors on the cheese before you bought that are causing it to turn blue so quickly.
I have a rule in my house. If I am serving a cheese board, any "moldy cheese" like Maytag Blue, Brie, camembert each gets a separate plate and a separate knife....and the gruyere, Swiss, chedders, edams etc can go on a big marble slab!
Linda C