Electric meat grinder, help??

[Legacy Lane]

I am thinking about buying this it is on sale for $80 no sales tax! I will be doing deer, goat, and rabbit. Thanks!
http://www.ruralking.com/lem-575-watt-e ... -1113.html

 

[3mina]

If the ad is accurate, that should do fine and that's a very good price. Up here, that would be triple the price

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Most of the reviews are favorable, but it has plastic gears which can wear out quickly.

http://www.amazon.com/LEM-Products-Watt ... B004PHUMRU

 

[DogCatMom]

On the off-chance that you *already* have a KitchenAid stand mixer, there's a meat-grinder attachment that's available for $64.95 full retail, so probably available for less elsewhere.

The butcher who used to have random deer bones available for my dogs during "the season" no longer has access to that processing facility. *sigh* And I'm pretty far away from anywhere that's hunt-legal--even though deer regularly maraud gardens hereabouts and are in over-supply....

 

[MamaSheepdog]

On the off-chance that you *already* have a KitchenAid stand mixer, there's a meat-grinder attachment that's available for $64.95 full retail, so probably available for less elsewhere.

Ooh! I didn't know they had that!

I read some reviews, and the only con is that it is made of plastic now instead of aluminum, and they sometimes break. I found this stainless steel version that fits Kitchen Aid mixers for $150 (normally $195):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chefs-Choice-79 ... 51b53ef2ef

I think we will have to add this to our Christmas wish list... Hubs and I are "kitchen snobs" and always like to add to our culinary collection at Christmas!

 

[AmysMacdog]

Oooow sweet! I have a KitchenAid mixer like that, I didn't know that! Thanks DogCatMom and MSD!
Legacy Lane Have you checked for used equipment on line? Pawn shops? I got my kitchenAid mixer for free. (I know it was a very lucky find in a wrecked car in a junk yard. LOL It works great!) We have a number of nice kitchen things we have accumulated over the years and didn't spend much for any of them. Another one is a meat slicer. Its a plastic bodied model but does a fantastic job and I paid 10.00 for it. Just an idea. :good-luck:

 

[big bucks ny]

I have the plastic kitchen aid grinder attachment and have used it heavily for years with no problems. I love it and sugest it to anyone.

 

[Cottie]

The plastic grinder works just fine. I can't remember it ever being a metal housing - my mom purchased one in the early 90s, and it was a combo of plastic and metal. I don't know if it comes with plastic plates now, or not. Mine came with metal.

The only problem is if you're grinding a LOT of meat, it gets annoyingly slow/tedious. So if you're doing 1-3 pounds at a time, the attachment would be great. Anything other that I'd go with a stand-alone model.

 

[bobqdevon]

We have a manual grinder. Made by LEM, I think, it's all stainless steel construction, ground 150lbs of meat in 2 days with no problems whatsoever. Cust through it like butter.

 

[coyotejoe]

I have the cheapest one Cabelas sells and have used it for 7 or 8 years with perfect satisfaction. It has ground at least two deer per year. We like the ground meat best and generally run out of it first so we grind anything which isn't obviously a roast or fillet, in other words most of the deer.

 

[HoppyMeal]

As far as that LEM meat grinder goes it is gear driven and when a part wears out you will only be able to purchase it from one place. unlike the kitchen aid and several other meat grinders that are worm driven and you can find parts from many sources. I have 2 commercial grade Hobart meat grinders both are worm driven and I paid less than $150 each for them. A few places to look for them would be school surplus auctions, Ebay, Craigslist, and restaurant supply house.

 

[camanojim]

I have the Kitchen aid grinder and its works great....But it is kind of low volume. The dies are about 2 inches in diameter maybe less. It takes along time to process the meat. I am going old school and getting a large hand cranking grinder, more work but overall it will be faster.

 

[TMTex]

That's an excellent price for the grinder. If you can buy parts when they wear out or break, it would be a real steal.

I paid plenty more than that and got one with a cast planetary gear. I broke the gear when grinding turkey bones (grinding bones was one of the reasons I bought this one). I couldn't find a replacement gear, so I had to fabricate one out of plate steel. Having a place to buy replacement parts is now something I look for before hitting the "Buy" key.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

My grinder was about $ 100 a few years ago. It's a Waring Pro.
I consider it a lightweight type. I do quite a bit of grinding with it.
It works the best if you cube your meat in small chunks, like 1" by 1".
That way the grinder works on its own without forcing anything.
And make sure you got the cutting blade going the right direction.
Correctly in position it works fine. Put it in backwards and it clogs
up real fast, especially with deer meat and the muscle sections.
I just got done grinding the scrap sections up for the chickens.
They go crazy over that cheap scrap hamburg stuff. Gives them
protein and the fat is good for them. It's a treat only this time of year.
I just hate seeing food go to waste.

I been thinking how to do bones like from turkey, chicken, etc.
Plan is to pull out my pressure cooker and give that a try.
Not the big canner. The smaller pot, the cooker.