Not the modern government "cheese", which is NOT in surplus.......for this, I'm thinking of the old Commodity Credit surplus cheese they used to give away back in the 60's, etc.

Everyone raves about how good it was. My question is.....what was it? A processed cheese like American or Velvetta.......or what????

  Dang,,,I don't remember the cheese,,,just cannot remember,,,but I DO remember the canned meat that came in a big can, like a 303 size that looked a lot like Spam,,, none of the family like'ed it but I sure did,,!! I would slice  bout a 1/4" slice and  fry it on the stove or take some outside and build a small fire and roast a few pieces over the fire,,,,MMMMM Good,,!!!! remember the peanut butter too,,,,

My grandfather got some honey once when he went to pick up his cheese.  It was black as molasses and tasted horrible for someone who was use to clover type honeys

I don't remember the cheese......but do remember the peanut butter, honey, canned meats, grits, etc. They fed a lot of that stuff to us at school. Mix the PB and honey 50:50 and it was pretty good. Still do that today

I think there were some things preferred over others. What some didn't eat, they threw away. My grandmother and great aunt used to drive out to the city dump to retrieve the canned meats. I fed a lot of it to my hunting dogs this time of year when they were getting run down. Had another aunt that always brought garlic cheese grits to family gatherings. She said they didn't come from the dump.......but I wasn't too sure. Tasted good though.

BTW, concerning what they fed us at school.....first deer meat I ever ate was at school......somebody hit one with a car and our superintendent went out and picked it up and dressed it. They actually fed us road kill at school.

Times have changed.

We always had PB and honey sandwiches at school, I too fix them when I don't feel like fixing something that takes longer.  Don't eat chili without a PB and honey sandwich.

  The thing I distinctly remember about commodities day,,was our Mother would rotate the 4 oldest boys to take her to help load all them groceries,,,cause there were a good number of us hanging around our table,,,,,

 Is used to hate when it was my turn, thinkin we would run into somebody from school

 There was this dude that was the singer for the band we used to compete against and his parents would let him drive their BRAND NEW CAR to school on Fridays,,,,chit i was lucky if our 20 year survivor clunker Plymouth would make it to the city limits so I had to either  hitch hike, beg a ride,,or catch the bus. SO,,this one time it was my turn and when I get to the distribution center,,,there right in front of the place was this shiny, bright RED Dodge FURY that sure looked like Henry's family's car. As Me and Mom is walkin towards the place,,,who could that be walkin out under 2 big boxes of groceries,,,,than ole Henry himself,,,!!!! followed by his mother with 2 boxes herself,,AND his older brother TOO,,,!!  Henry was hidin his face but ,,,My Mother insisted that I go and say HI, before thay left,,,,So I did ,,!!! That knocked his di** in the dirt,,,and he sure was a great friend after that and would always give me a ride til I got my first car,,,, 

chaskaduo wrote: Used to get a 5 lb brick of Bongards Yellow American Cheese at the Mpls Armory 2wice a month along with other staples back in 78-79. That cheese was the best and is still a great cheese, I loved having it melted on thick potato slices fried in fat. It is also made here in good ol MN.

American cheese makes sense. Easy to make and easy for recipients to use in quantity.

Now that I think about it, about that era my mom used to make us pimento cheese a lot, and she made it from big solid blocks of American cheese. Ran it through a grater. It was the best I've ever had. Nothing commercial made today even comes close.

But to my knowledge, we didn't get the government stuff. My grandmother had 3 houses she rented, and I think most of her tenants might have qualified.  I seem to recall she took some of the surplus they didn't eat, besides what they salvaged from the dump. Grandmother was about 3rd generation German who went through the depression. You guys know the type. Nothing was thrown away or went to waste. So she nabbed it and gave it to us.