Talk:Government cheese

message: we have to find out where this cheese was produced people still want this cheese!!
It probably was terrible for your health but everyone says it was the best tasting cheese they had ever eaten!
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I believe the cheese tasted unusually good because it was aged longer than most store-bought cheese, by sitting around in warehouses.  Cheese sold for profit has quicker turnover than cheese produced as surplus.  This is speculation but it stands to reason.
:Good question.  I think that would be interesting, too.  I do know that Land O' Lakes still makes a type of cheese called Pasteurized Process American Cheese, but I just found that on the internet.  I haven't seen it in the stores yet. Fredsmith2 15:48, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I would image Kraft was at least one of the makers in the beginning, 50s/60s, as they have been the largest in the US and one of the largest in the world for 100 years. The govt overpaid for the cheese, but the standards for the cheese were extremely high.  Dad was in the military, so we bought it at the commissary all the time, makes the best macaroni and cheese.  Huge blocks a foot long.  Very high milk fat content, and was priced fairly cheap since they sold it at cost or less to military families.  As a point of comparison, go look at the grocery store shelf:  you notice that Kraft Singles are NOT qualfied for WIC, but their Deli Cheese (at twice the price) is.  This is because there isn't enough cheese in "Singles" to qualify and meet the standard.  Their Deli American is the closest thing to old fashioned 'gubmint cheese', but still pales in comparison.  Pharmboy 21:40, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Where was it produced!! that info belongs in this article!! 

message: I remember (from Minnesota in the 1970's and early 1980's) that one of the complaints about this product was the package sizes.  The Government cheese came in 10-pound blocks, which is a bit much for a small family to use up.  A lot of it went into hot-lunch programs, Veterans' nursing home kitchens, etc., where that size was fine.  But could be a problem for a mother & a couple of kids.
T-bonham 02:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: My neighbors got USDA cheese in Michigan in the 1980s and it was probably 10 pounds. Definitely larger than 2 pounds would be, could have been 8 pounds or something I suppose, but I mean BIG blocks of cheese. They went somewhere and picked it up for their family, not institutional. Єlєvє<SMALL>N</SMALL> єvє<SMALL>N</SMALL>||<BIG>и</BIG>эvэ <BIG>и</BIG>эvэl<BIG>э</BIG> 08:36, 20 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Should this discuss package volumes? 

message: I've watched enough In Living Color to know that supposedly this stuff locks up yer bowels. (I could use some of that, then I could safely imbibe prunes)
All cheese will lock up your bowels, especially if you didn't amount to jack squat, live in a van down by the river, and are eating a steady diet of government cheese. 71.185.231.154 04:49, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That's SNL, not In Living Color, bro.19:29, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

text: The only info I found about the negative effects of this cheese was on Urban Dictionary, and sadly I can't quote that on here, because it violates too many policies. Fredsmith2 15:44, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shouldn't this article discuss adverse reaction? 

message: Removed a link from the See Also section which led to an "Audio recording of The Rainmakers performing 'Government Cheese' live in concert."
Didn't seem all that relevant. Shostie 14:17, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed a link 

message: The article says that government cheese was presliced.  I was given some cheese back in the '80's that I was told was government cheese, and it was a solid brick, not sliced.  I looked for unsliced  American cheese later, and couldn't find it for sale.
Scott Haley (talk) 19:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Presliced? 

message: While the phrase is consistent with the cultural use of the term, even the term itself was uncommon enough that many younger (18-25) people I'd asked didn't know exactly what "government cheese" was, most thought it was just "low grade cheese" and were unaware that it referred to a form of government assistance to individuals... awareness of the two word phrase seems pretty low these days, and for those who are aware of it, I'm not sure that there's even a notable difference between "Living on Government Cheese" and "Living on foodstamps" and "Living on welfare" in terms of how the phrases were ever used culturally. 
So I've pulled the citation needed, and instead listed the phrase as an example of how the term can be used in a non-literal cultural sense. 70.190.70.128 (talk) 02:46, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Living on Government Cheese

message: This article talk page was automatically added with  banner as it falls under :Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here . If you have concerns , please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 16:19, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: [[WP:FOOD|WikiProject Food and drink]] Tagging

message: I cannot tell from the article whether or not Government Cheese still exists. Some of the verb tenses are past tense and some present tense.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.124.143.3 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 15 September 2008
I'd like to add to this; there is a sentence in the first block of text:
"Currently, the USDA provides a subsidized food program for specific classes of foods in the United States known as the Women, Infants and Children program, as well as other programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)."
The sentence introduces WIC long before it's even a part of the article; it's completely irrelevant in the topic of 'government cheese' unless the reader already concedes that financial subsidies are equivalent to a government sponsored and managed food manufacturing and distribution program. 'Government cheese' in the Reagan era was almost an entire industry; WIC is just re-allotting public dollars to those who need them. If I were more wikipedia savvy I would remove the entire sentence from the intro because it doesn't fit where it is.
I have nothing useful to say here, but it's rather ironic that you misspelled grammar whilst commenting on bad grammar.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.167.27 (talk) 18:15, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Grammar 

message: In addition to individual welfare recipients, Childcare centers and private home daycare that cared for 'state kids' - children from low income families who were having their daycare expenses subsidized by the state, also were issued large blocks of cheese in addition to items like peanut butter and butter.
I'm sure this wasn't the only indirect use of government cheese.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.72.194.186 (talk) 19:47, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who recieved government cheese? 

message: I just wanted to add that where I'm from in West Virginia, I grew up calling this stuff commodity cheese.  It came in 5 or 10lb presliced packages (sort of the bulk american cheese at Sam's).  It wasn't individually wrapped slices either.
188.29.165.72 (talk) 21:20, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  commodity cheese 

message: Years ago when we were on food stamps (when they came as a staple bound booklet of bills) we'd get cheese, unsliced, butter and paper/foil cans of creamy peanut butter. The "cheese" was always awful. Tasted nasty, was soft and wouldn't slice cleanly. The butter was plain old ordinary lightly salted butter. The peanut butter seemed to have sugar added, it was much sweeter than any store bought. As for the end of it, I recall a report on TV about a government warehouse burning and the surrounding streets being flooded with melted cheese and butter. After that we never got any cheese, butter or peanut butter. Bizzybody (talk) 00:29, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Someone here http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1346299_Does_Government_Cheese_Still_Exist__.html&page=2 says it was a fire in Madison, WI on May 5, 1991. Burned for three days. Bizzybody (talk) 00:34, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  The end of the cheese? 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on Government cheese. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060924120852/http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/facts/hhpfacts/FS-CheeseProcessed.pdf to http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/facts/hhpfacts/FS-CheeseProcessed.pdf
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Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 07:12, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: "Government cheese was frequently moldy.”
The document linked does not say that. It stated that the cheese the Government bought was rotting in warehouses as the Government just stockpiled it. I think that statement should be removed.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.157.136.250 (talk) 17:21, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source not confirming the statement. 

message: I feel as though this article is incomplete unless it discusses the caves beneath Missouri where a large portion of the cheese was stockpiled; the caves have become a ubiquitous part of the lore surrounding government cheese. Ithinkiplaygames (talk) 18:20, 7 August 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: @Ithinkiplaygames interestingly googling 'American Cheese Caves' links to this article even though there is no mention of them! Robertm25 (talk) 11:59, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cheese caves 

message: I’ve heard conflicting opinions on this. 184.23.20.108 (talk) 06:25, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Surely it was like any other cheese made from cow's milk and thus high in lactose? Martinevans123 (talk) 14:43, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is government cheese lactose free?