Meat Grinder Reviews?

[Genesis 9:3]

I did a search for meat grinders on this forum and couldn't find anything substantial. Right now I'm using a "Universal" #1 and #2 to grind my meat that was given to me... They aren't working too well :banghead:

I'd like to stick with a hand crank grinder for simplicity and wondered if any of you could recommend anything?

Also, how much fat and silver seam do you guys cut out of your burger meat? Last night I did a shoulder/front leg and we tossed out a lot more than I wanted to because it would clog up the grinder... any tips there would be appreciated as well.

[nomad_archer]

Wow you are doing it the hard way with a hand grinder. I cut a reasonable amount of the silver skin out I also add pork fat and some slab bacon to my ground meat, I like the way it tastes. When I run meat through the grider I grind it twice once on a large size and then smaller, plus that makes sure everything including the added fat is mixed well.

I use my dads smaller grinder which is a pain since everything has to be in 1" cubes to fit and I need to go slow otherwise it will clog up the grinder. My cousin has an industrial grinder that he got from a retired butcher that will darn need take a whole roast and grind it without missing a beat. After using an electic grinder I will never use a manual one just too much work. I am now on the look out for an industrial/commercial grinder.

[Christa918]

I have one made by LEM products. You can search and find them on line. It is a 1HP and we leave a bit of silver skin on and throw ground pork in a bit at a time, keeps the burger from drying out fast when frying it. The grinders you can get a walmart or lowes just wont last, and you have to go super slow when grinding or you will over heat it and they stop. The LEM one I have will grind till the cows come home. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

[treelounger]

I have the gander series #22.It is a simple hand crank model. There are two plates the come with it one with large holes and one with small holes. I don't much care for hand cranking but could not afford to spend a couple or several hundred dollars on a grinder, so I converted mine. I took the hand crank off and bolted a pully on,and screwed it down to a wood base. put an elctric motor on the wood base, got a v belt and wolla! an electric grinder. It works well. I run the meat through the big plate once and the small plate twice. I also do a reasonable amount of trimming. I don't get carried away because like youfound out you'll end up losing alot. Good luck

[Stonegod]

I don't much care for hand cranking but could not afford to spend a couple or several hundred dollars on a grinder, so I converted mine. I took the hand crank off and bolted a pully on,and screwed it down to a wood base. put an elctric motor on the wood base, got a v belt and wolla! an electric grinder. It works well. I run the meat through the big plate once and the small plate twice. I also do a reasonable amount of trimming. I don't get carried away because like youfound out you'll end up losing alot. Good luck

That's pretty cool!! Good old American ingenuity at work!!! How much did if cost to convert it?

[Mike F]

I bought a cheap hand grinder years ago, and ground one deer with it. I too didn't have any extra cash, but was not going to grind another deer by hand. I found an old right angle gear reducer that was getting demo'ed off a job, and the light bulb turned on.
I won't/can't tell ya how many deer went through that machine, but it was more than a handful. I had a good day at the scrap yard a couple years back and treated myself to the Cabelas 1 hp grinder. Although the old one worked well, this one will pull the meat right out of your hand. Plus they have a multitude of accs. for them.

[bbowman41]

I have used the a hand grinder and the Heavy Duty Meat Grinder from cabelas. I was very impressed with the cabelas grinder. It came with a ton of accessories for sausage and what not. Like Mike F says it definitely pulls the meat right out of your hand and as fast as I could feed it as well.

[Bambislastbreath]

my father in law also "made" is own eletric grinder.......works awesome too!!! im looking for a good electric one too been looking at gander mountains...havnt made my mind up yet

[treelounger]

I had the elec. motor sittin round so the cost of the v belt and the pulley...$15-$20 maybe.

[Genesis 9:3]

Last night the Cabela's #22 came in. the threads on the front of it were so loose you couldn't even tighten it up to hold the cutting plate against the cutter. I will join the ranks of those leaving a negative review... but if anyone ever follows behind me, DONT GET IT! I cannot think of a more worthless, pathetic excuse for a meat grinder than what I got in the mail last night...

On the flip side, my wife looked at it and said "Maybe we should look at spending a little bit more money! I don't want to get a piece of junk."

So... any thoughts? Let's keep this under $150 if possible...

[treelounger]

sorry to hear of your bad luck. just a thought maybe look at ebay. good luck

[Genesis 9:3]

just a thought maybe look at ebay. good luck

I figure that's where all the crap ends up that people are trying to get rid of because they lost the receipt or something like that... it just seems too iffy to me...

On another note, over "Christmas" with the in-laws, grandma got mom-in-law a grinder from Weston (#8). The casting job on that grinder was so pathetic that the hand crank wouldn't fit on the end of the shaft...

Yet more evidence that all the hand crank grinders are made by the same poor quality company in China... (unless you consider the $250 one sold at Lehman's that I can't afford or justify)

[RolandoRoxas]

I've just bought a Waring Pro Meat Grinder (http://1potmeals.com/waring-pro-meat-grinder) a couple of months ago even I ground 3-4 deers and still working fine. Maybe the meat grinder you are using is a substandard and can't handle long process of grinding hard and thick meat.

[deerguy10]

Lats season I got a grinder attachment for my wife's kitchen aid mixer and it is awesome!