Meat Grinder recommendations

[EddieWalker]

My wife would really prefer the have ground up meat for the dogs. An odd thing about Akitas, is that they like to lick their food instead of taking bites of it. They will bite and chew, but only after they have licked it all up.

From what I'm reading, the LEM looks like it should be a good choice. We are not buying anything just yet, but it's nice to have something on the "want list" for when we do decide to buy.

 

[gsganzer]

Eddie,
I have all my meat processed, so I haven't needed one but I would think any of the LEM or Cabelas Commercial models, probably 3/4 or 1HP. Both seem to have spare parts available and get good reviews.

I know you do a lot of food processing, do you have a good vacuum sealer? I have a cheap Foodsaver vacuum sealer, but looking for something better. I'm wondering if anyone here has had good success with a particular vacuum sealer. Reviews on all of them seem pretty spotty.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks Gordon. We had a cheap vacuum sealer that was more effort then it's worth. Karen uses it to seal her veggies from the garden last year. I think she threw it away. She hasn't mentioned anything about getting another one.

 

[MossRoad]

We bought a freezer and a Sears Kenmore vacuum sealer back in 1985 when we got married. The vacuum sealer outlasted the freezer by 10 years! Last year we replaced the vacuum sealer with a FoodSaver brand. Not the cheapest and not the most expensive model. It works better than the old Sears, but you have to put a bit of pressure on the top to get it to complete the vacuum.

Every couple-three months we buy 20# of chicken breasts, 10# of pork chops, and 10-20# of ground beef. I vacuum seal all of them in 2-portion sizes. We buy vacuum bag material in bulk roll so it works out to about 25 cents a bag.

 

[MossRoad]

... We are not buying anything just yet, but it's nice to have something on the "want list" for when we do decide to buy.

It's nice to have something in mind in case you run across a deal unexpectedly in the future. Yard sale, craig's list, sale at a store, etc.

 

[gsganzer]

Every couple-three months we buy 20# of chicken breasts, 10# of pork chops, and 10-20# of ground beef. I vacuum seal all of them in 2-portion sizes. We buy vacuum bag material in bulk roll so it works out to about 25 cents a bag.

I'm like Moss, sometimes I find a great deal and I'll buy some bulk product and then divide it. I've also been making bulk batches of stuff, like venison chili, and then freeze into smaller portions. The frozen portions are great when I go camping or to the deer lease because they act like ice packs in the cooler. The vacuum bags are stouter than regular zipper freezer bags and don't get holes/leak as easily.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I hope you do not mean roast them before grinding. That does not work well.........

If you sharpen your cutter it works just dandy. Cook a whole big chicken. We debone, grind up and make a chicken salad. Sharp hand grinder. We dont grind road kill much usually.

 

[dlctcg]

@gsganzer - We have gone through a couple Food Savers, the first one we had was actually a really good machine... 2nd one was ok...

We now have a Weston Pro-2300 & I believe we are going on 5+ yrs with it. It is big & heavy but has ben a great vacuum sealer. Ours is used many, many times a week (if not daily) so it has a permanent place on the counter in the pantry & is always plugged in ready to go.. If it stopped working tomorrow I'd buy another one or their newer unit, but we use it all the time...

 

[jjp8182]

@gsganzer - We have gone through a couple Food Savers, the first one we had was actually a really good machine... 2nd one was ok...

We now have a Weston Pro-2300 & I believe we are going on 5+ yrs with it. It is big & heavy but has ben a great vacuum sealer. Ours is used many, many times a week (if not daily) so it has a permanent place on the counter in the pantry & is always plugged in ready to go.. If it stopped working tomorrow I'd buy another one or their newer unit, but we use it all the time...

It's good to know they can last - I bought a Weston 65-1301-W Pro 16" last year and used it to seal ~20 gallons of turnips and several bags of corn on the cob. So far this year it's been used to pack 10 gallons of corn.

Would probably be used more if it was left on the counter full time, but my wife likes to have lots of clear counter space -- and I've grown used to having it for some things (like making homemade pizzas - thick crust with topping piled deep)

Only problem I've had was occasionally needing to wait a few minutes for it to cool, but that was really only a problem last year since I'd filled multiple bags and was doing final sealing in batches. Worked much better this year to create a batch of about 10 bags, then do the final sealing of them as each was filed.

 

[gsganzer]

Wow, those Weston units really seem nice. Definitely a step above what I've been using. While searching Weston, I came across this meat processing equipment supplier. They seem to carry top notch professional equipment at all price points.
Meat Processing Products

 

[EddieWalker]

Wow, those Weston units really seem nice. Definitely a step above what I've been using. While searching Weston, I came across this meat processing equipment supplier. They seem to carry top notch professional equipment at all price points.
Meat Processing Products

Interesting website. Is Weston considered a top of the line brand?

 

[jjp8182]

Thanks for that link. For most of my cooking/kitchen equipment I've mostly switched to buying from Webstaurant as I figure that (for the most part) if I buy things meant for a commercial kitchen it should last me quite a while for personal use (even though almost every meal I eat is made in my own kitchen).

Have looked at LEM grinders, but haven't gotten one (yet).

BTW the large cafeteria style food warmer/hot pans can be extremely handy for food use -- or other alternative usage (actually bought a few to use as oil catch pans when changing the oil on my tractor -- far cheaper solution than most automotive offerings) ...and full sheet pans have also been ordered for non-kitchen use.

Adding link to the hot pans/steam table trays: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/52...ans-and-hotel-pans.html?filter=size:full-size

 

[gsganzer]

Interesting website. Is Weston considered a top of the line brand?

I'm not sure if they're top of the line, it seems like there are a couple other brands that are true commercial, but they definitely seem like they cross into the commercial domain of more robust build and features. Seems like they're heavy homeowner, light to mid commercial.

JJP
We have a number of restaurant supply stores in/near Dallas. I agree with you on the food warmer pans, I have stainless food warmer pans of various sizes that I use when grilling or for large gatherings.

 

[LouNY]

Northern tool has a one hp grinder.

 

[ikoflexer]

Bought a Lem meat grinder from Cabelas years ago. Built like a tank, really well designed and easy to clean, cannot think of anything negative about it. Really happy I didn't go for the cheaper copies.

 

[fishman]

Eddie, I also bought a Cabela's grinder almost 15 years ago now, the 1 hp version I believe. It was a #22 neck and it has reverse. The larger neck allows you to cut meat into larger pieces, saving time. The reverse has not been a significant benefit. I just looked and the new version comes with the coarse and fine grind plate, just like mine did. I found that the medium grind plate was "just right" and so I would recommend purchasing that as well. I didn't have great luck with the stuffing attachments, and found a dedicated stuffer was far superior.

The best addition I've done recently is a foot operated on/off pedal that allows me to grind directly into meat bags, using a stainless funnel I also purchased seperately. Much quicker and the meat lasts just as long a vacuum sealing it.

I am so glad I bought the one I did, although I felt really silly setting it up the first time for my first deer. It just seemed like so much overkill. Now, probably 100 animals later (your friends love to use your grinder), it is still perfect, I've had to do nothing to it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you for the great review. Cabela's used to be my go to store for all things outdoors back before the internet. I loved getting their catalogs in the mail!!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Sort of an update to this thread. Karen shot a nice buck yesterday and I'm going to pay $130 to have it processed because I haven't bought a meat grinder yet, and she wants it all made into ground. We can shoot up to 4 deer each, and since my friend has shot all those hogs, our deer numbers are way up. We plan on getting as many as we can into the freezer this year, but I do not want to pay that much money to have them processed!!!

I'm probably going to buy the LEM 1 1/2 hp processor this week. I should probably do it today because its the only size that I'm interested in that will be available for delivery next month. The other sizes are sold out, and based on the comments on here, and the reviews on Amazon, it seems like the one that will last us the rest of our lives. We will only increase our use of it over the years, especially with the cost of everything climbing so quickly!!

Amazon.com

 

[Sawyer Rob]

AND, if you bone THAT deer out now, freeze the meat and then take it out to grind when the new grinder comes in, you will have $130.00 more to put toward the new grinder!!

Nice buck...

SR

 

[oosik]

Very nice four point.