I've done a couple of searches in this thread hoping to find some info on vacuum sealing cheese.  No luck with what I'm looking for.

Has anyone taken up cheese (block or shreeded) in vacuum sealed bags?  I'm thinking mid-August.  

I'd be very comfortable if temps were cooler, but I'm wondering how long it might keep in the heat.

Any comments?

I took cheese and vac packed it in September.  Migfht not be August but it was warm that trip also. We had cheese for lunch for 7 days.

Get a good hardy cheese and vac pack in sets to feed one or two days. We took a nice sharp cheddar and had some sausage some of the days as well. It was getting a little "oily" by the last day, but was fine. It was just from a good brick we bought at Cub Foods.

Is wax "wrapped" cheese available anymore?  

I remember the old days in my Grandpa's country store when a cheese wheel had a wax rind and you just cut a wedge from it.  It was stored at room temperature and covered in the round wooden "box" it was shipped in.  Seems like there was even a "cheese cloth" between the cheese and the wax.  Seems like this cheese had an indefinite shelf life, even in warm (hot) weather.

Yes.  I have run across the bite-sized little Bella cheeses and have even tossed them in a backpack for several days while trekking around southern France.  However, I am looking for something perhaps a bit larger that I might use a grater on, as well as a knife. (The Bella cheeses seem to me to be uniformly soft and probably wouldn't grate well.)

dd

Gimp_of_01 buys regular Wisconsin cheese out of the "ends and pieces" bin at his local store.  These are vacuum sealed.  I have also bought those 1/2 lb bricks from Kraft.  These are hermetically sealed also.

Block cheeses such as these last quite a while, many weeks at least.  They do get soft but still are good.  I'd say that shredded cheeses would congeal into a goo-ball within a short period due to pressure and temperature.

Mid August is doable but unless it's kept semi cool it will get soft and oily. Still tasts the same, it's just a texture thing. I don't have much experience with shredded but for the one time an unopened bag started to get moldy in May. It was a rendezvous trip so I don't know how it was kept but we just picked out the greenest pieces and used the rest on one of the best pizzas I've ever had.

Chunks always keep best. Waxed is still available and just as good as ever. Spreads will go south pretty fast once opened, and you can't really cut off the dry or moldy parts. Eat 'em when you open 'em but for the hard cheeses, just cut off anything that doesn't look good.

I like extra sharp cheddar for trips. What I don't finish on trips I'll enjoy at home when I'm unpacking.

Cheese can be frozen and does not suffer when thawed....at least the more common brick, cheddar, colby and mozzarella. Extra sharp cheddar does especially well.
For a trip in August I would start with a block of frozen cheese.
Also, individually wrapped cheese sticks will easily make it a week.

I too take regular cub foods block cheese on trips.  Even in August it seems fine for at least my 7-10 day trips.  I never pre-froze my cheese, but it sounds like it could help.  I have found the real challenge to making cheese last 7-10 days in good shape is to protect it from the sun and mid-day heat.

Unfortunately, it only takes one mistake to end up with super oily crumbly cheese.  Hang your food pack in shady areas if possible and when the food pack is sitting on the bottom of the canoe durning your travel days, make sure it is buried below the surface of the pack exposed to the sun so it says cool.  

Nothing is worse that pulling out melted oily cheese that has been heated to 110 degrees from a sun exposed pocket of a food pack.

Gijikiki

Sounds like a lot of people over-think the whole cheese thing a bit.  Just buy bricks of whatever firm cheeses you like from the grocery store, foil-wrap them if you want, stuff 'em into a ziplock, and go.

But if you are looking for specifics, here's my take:

CoJack, Colby, Monterey Jack - these are all fairly soft cheeses which will get oily and squishy easily in hot weather.  They do not grate well at all when warm.  The advantage is they taste great even when they are at "room temperature" inside of a warm pack.

Cheddar - a firmer cheese that will hold up to heat better though it can get oily.  Doesn't taste the same warm as it does cold.  Sharpness is maximized the warmer it is so if you don't like real sharp cheddar, just bring the mild stuff or don't bring it at all.  If you like really sharp cheese, you haven't tasted anything until you taste a warm extra-sharp cheddar.

Swiss - I love swiss cheese in the woods.  Much like cheddar it holds up to heat pretty well, but the flavor changes less with the temperature.  Get baby swiss to avoid the annoying gigantic holes.

Pepper Jack - See Monterey Jack  above.  Biggest difference is that all the peppers in there make it possible to grate even when warm.  Maybe "grate" is the wrong word, but it crumbles nicely into something approximating the consistency of grated cheese.

All of these cheeses keep with no problem for 10 days of blistering heat.  I do wrap them in foil, but that's it.  Even once opened, they will keep for 3-4 days just fine.

Another tip to help keep cheese in warmer temps is to take a soft clean cloth, dampen it in vinegar, (not soaking wet), put in ziplock. The vinegar will neutralize the oiliness. Freezing cheese will make it crumble more easily. I never freeze cheese.
;) ;)