Meat Grinder

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deer patch

Well-Known Member
I’m needing a meat grinder. What brand is everyone recommending and hp size? What attachments would you also get? I was thinking about getting some type of juicer to make jelly and tomato sauce also. Also is the vacuum seal worth the extra money?
 
I have the STX Turbo Force with the foot pedal attachment from amazon. It grinds about 3 deer a year for me without any problems. I've had it going on 4 seasons now. I also have the grinder attachment for my 80qt mixer (over kill). I really like the foot pedal when I'm doing sausages. As for the vacuum sealer. I think it helps with the moisture in the meat prolonging the life of the meat in the freezer.

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I bought the LEM #8(counter top) meat grinder and it has done a tremendous job, but it has a few cons for me. The hole is to small if you want to do a second grind(adding fat for burger or sausage). It can be done, but I bought the LEM #22, 1hp, meat grinder last year. I didn’t get to use it, but my brother has had the same one going on 30 years now. My little number 8 is about 15 years old and still chugging along. I would recommend the foot pedal, the ground meat package(tape dispenser and ground meat sleeves), a few of the smaller sausage tubes, and possibly the meat tenderizer. I was tired of having to try and stuff ground meat and fat back in a little hole to put it in the bags. The hole on my new one can take a whole deer backstrap.

I would tell you to get the biggest one you can, even if that means saving another month to get it.


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I have a Chinese knockoff similar to a Weston #32, with a pulley, belt, and a 1.5 motor, all bolted to a board. A cheap way to grind meat, but cumbersome to move around. I'm not a Cabelas fan, but my friends have Cabelas grinders that they really like. I think that I might consider upgrading to one of those...
 
I bought one from Gander Mountain when they still existed. Pretty sure it was made from LEM, as it looked the same.
I didn't get the pedal control but if I did the Tubes I would. I simply Vacuum Pack all my stuff and it works great.

FWIT, I don't have any trouble running meat back through, although I rarely do that now. I simply add the Pork or Beef fat mix as I do the Deer meat, and handful of one then a handful of the other. I figure out how much I want the Ratio to be (say 50-50 0r 75-25) then add enough Ground Pork or Beef to make that happen. My Burger tastes way better than it used to.
 
Buy your wife a Kitchen Aid mixer!!!!!!!! And get the grinder attachment for yourself. Long story short, we bought my mom a mixers 35 years ago for Christmas. She has NEVER mixed anything in it, strictly used for grinding deer. She still laughs about the "gift" we bought her!!! Its not an industrial grinder and you have to cut the chunks smaller but it has done the job!!! Perfect for the kids to help. Guessing it has over 100 deer thru it, still works like the day we bought it. Been looking for a cube steak (tenderizer) attachment for it, just haven't ordered it yet.

Strut
 
I'd go crazy if I had to cut my deer in small enough pieces to run through our Kitchen Aid grinder. I have an old grocery store grinder, so not much help there. I do use a vac packer, but only for steaks. Do yourself a favor and get one of the Cabela's or similar commercial grade sealers. I went through 4-5 Foodsavers before buying the Cabela's about 15 years ago.

The best way to pack burger is with a vertical sausage stuffer and the poly bags from LEM. You can buy 1000 bags for about $40. I can package 20# of burger in about 5 minutes, airtight, no freezer burn and lasts for years. I've lost several bags of burger in the freezer to find them years later, and they are still good.
 
struttingfool said:
Buy your wife a Kitchen Aid mixer!!!!!!!! And get the grinder attachment for yourself. Long story short, we bought my mom a mixers 35 years ago for Christmas. She has NEVER mixed anything in it, strictly used for grinding deer. She still laughs about the "gift" we bought her!!! Its not an industrial grinder and you have to cut the chunks smaller but it has done the job!!! Perfect for the kids to help. Guessing it has over 100 deer thru it, still works like the day we bought it. Been looking for a cube steak (tenderizer) attachment for it, just haven't ordered it yet.

Strut
Click to expand...
I went through a Bass Pro brand grinder a few years ago. Plastic gears. Cheap, and never did work as I wanted it to. the meat had to be partially frozen or it would gum up. After buying the Kitchen Aid I no longer had to freeze the meat. It's not an industrial machine but the components are good quality. I do actually use it as a mixer as well.
 
Switched from few cheapo gander and cabelas brand to LEM unit off amazon for ~$300. Night and day difference. Thing rips through silver skin no problem should've just bought quality from the start.


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swat1018 said:
I'd go crazy if I had to cut my deer in small enough pieces to run through our Kitchen Aid grinder. I have an old grocery store grinder, so not much help there. I do use a vac packer, but only for steaks. Do yourself a favor and get one of the Cabela's or similar commercial grade sealers. I went through 4-5 Foodsavers before buying the Cabela's about 15 years ago.

The best way to pack burger is with a vertical sausage stuffer and the poly bags from LEM. You can buy 1000 bags for about $40. I can package 20# of burger in about 5 minutes, airtight, no freezer burn and lasts for years. I've lost several bags of burger in the freezer to find them years later, and they are still good.
Click to expand...
When I bought my Vacuum Sealer I bought the Outdoorsman Model from Food Saver. I've had it for probably 5 years now and I do an average of 2 Deer a Year AND we buy our other Meat at Sam's Club in Volume Packs then use it to make Small Packs for just the Wife and I. It is still going great and we have never had an issue with it.

FWIW the First One I got wa a Christmas Gift and it was one of those Cheap Knock Offs. It always had trouble sealing and i used it for a couple years until I had enough and tossed it in the garbage.

Biggest Thing with these Sealers is to keep the Seal in Good Shape. My Outdoorsman has Open-Storage-Close mode on the level lock. The Storage Mode keeps the seals from touching. It never fails to work.
 
BoneCrusher20 said:
Switched from few cheapo gander and cabelas brand to LEM unit off amazon for ~$300. Night and day difference. Thing rips through silver skin no problem should've just bought quality from the start.


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Click to expand...
If you want better tasting meat, Remove that Silver Skin. Learned that as a Kid helping Mom and Dad do our 4-5 Deer a year up. If you cut that Silver Skin off the Meat will be much more Tasty and Tender. Eliminates any of the so called Gamey Taste.

We used to serve Venison to folks who swore they would never eat it because of the taste. They all ate it up and most said it was the best tasting Beef they ever had and wanted to know how we treated it. Mom always just smiled and said "it's all in the prep work".
 
We, along with other family members, have been using a .5 horsepower LEM for 7 years now. Still going strong! One thing to keep in mind, take good care of your plates and blades and don’t mix and match them! Meaning, don’t use an old plate with a new blade, you’ll end up dulling both, and they aren’t cheap.
 
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Some good info for sure. I’ve been looking at some of the commercial type grinders and it seems like every brand I’ve looked at that they are out of stock. I will definitely get at least 1 hp unit because I have always been one of those that says “you get what you pay for.” I’ve always been old school on the packaging. Everyone around here uses the freezer paper, so the vac seal type would be something new for me. So it looks like I have some more looking to do.
 
KSQ2 said:
We, along with other family members, have been using a .5 horsepower LEM for 7 years now. Still going strong! One thing to keep in mind, take good care of your plates and blades and don’t mix and match them! Meaning, don’t use an old plate with a new blade, you’ll end up dulling both, and they aren’t cheap.
Click to expand...

until I zoomed in I thought you’ve been using a 5 hp grinder. I thought. Wow! LOL.
 
we have the fish and game sealer and it works very well for vacuum sealing several deer at a time. We were debating between this one and just buying a commercial sealer because we tend to do a ton of vacuum packing at a time, but went with this smaller one. It has held up very well and is portable enough to take on fishing trips too. We use the 1.5 hp grinder from cabelas for grinding and mixing meat and making sausage, it has also held up well.
 
I should have updated this sooner but I went with the Weston #32 grinder and freezer paper but I haven’t used it yet so I can’t give a review on it..
 
Mennoniteman said:
I have a Chinese knockoff similar to a Weston #32, with a pulley, belt, and a 1.5 motor, all bolted to a board. A cheap way to grind meat, but cumbersome to move around. I'm not a Cabelas fan, but my friends have Cabelas grinders that they really like. I think that I might consider upgrading to one of those...
Click to expand...
My current grinder, but maybe not for long... Cabelas has 10% off and free shipping right now... During covid they were sold out of the #32's, but they appear to be back in stock now.
https://youtube.com/shorts/AXx5VQSQAEk
P.S. I usually wear disposable gloves to handle meat, but evidently not the last time. I do always wash my hands before starting.
 
a316d250d90b1dab710c10db00b27ba1.jpg

This is the one I bought. Expensive but worth every penny.


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