i worked in an italian restaurant - you know the kind that grate the fresh parmesan right at your table? - and part of the daily maintenance was the cutting and stocking of the parm. i got out of doing it most of the time because cutting through a $1000 slab of the hardest cheese out there was nearly physically impossible for me. in fact, cutting through a $27 hunk of parm is still enough of a battle for me that i usually get mike to just do it.

costco!

but fresh parmesan is worth it and so easy to stock. a block this size will last us about ten meals. i cut it up and freeze it because i'm sure we either eat carbonara or parmesan roasted potatoes once a week. it thaws nicely in the fridge, or if you are like me and only making carbonara because it takes twenty minutes and you've certainly not thought far enough ahead to have the parm ready, you can grate it right from frozen (just like ginger). you just need a little more elbow grease.