My Grinder Sucks - Grinder reviews

[Khunter]

Buy the attachment. The metal one costs more than the plastic one, and I am on my second plastic one. I think it’s 40 or 50 bucks so if you don’t like it you really aren’t out that much.

Over the past decade my KitchenAid has gone through well over 1000 pounds of meat, and this year went through two Elk and two deer.

Definitely not as fast and efficient as a larger grinder, but I don’t do any freezing of meat or freezing of the implements. I just get after it and get it done and run it through the finest plate on first pass and it does a good job.
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The plastic attachment sure always got gummed up and I tired of opening and clearing the gumme dup silverskin tendon gunk. Tne metal attachment is much better at pushing through anything without getting gummed up near as much.

caveat the two plastic ones I went through and tossed out finally were pretty old so maybe newer plastic ones are better, not sure. Just know the metal grinder attachment is MUCH fatser/easier and worth the extra cost. it has much better quality blades and plates etc.

 

[Nameless Range]

The plastic attachment sure always got gummed up and I tired of opening and clearing the gumme dup silverskin tendon gunk. Tne metal attachment is much better at pushing through anything without getting gummed up near as much.

caveat the two plastic ones I went through and tossed out finally were pretty old so maybe newer plastic ones are better, not sure. Just know the metal grinder attachment is MUCH fatser/easier and worth the extra cost. it has much better quality blades and plates etc.

It’s interesting how many folks say they have burned up motors or have had poor luck with the attachments. Hasn’t been my experience but I admit I’m basically grinding an elk and a deer a year and that’s really the only use that thing gets. We got that KitchenAid as a wedding gift 12 years ago and the only time I’ve used it for something other than grinding meat was a few days ago when I used it to whip butter for some chocolate chip cookies.

If my KitchenAid ever dies I will be buying a heavy duty grinder, but my recommendation for the plastic attachment was basically one that considers that Wllm already has a KitchenAid, so the cost of getting into something to try it out is pretty low.

I definitely think if you have the scratch, buying a real good grinder upfront is the way to go.

 

[Tradewind]

I had a shitty $39.99 one from sportsman’s that did 1lb an hour, totally piece of crap.

Looking for a grinder.

I hate “get … you’ll thank me later” reviews.

I probably average 50-100lbs of grind a year. If I get one I want to be able to do an elk solo in a sitting without going insane and/or taking all day.

Mightbe too late on the former

 

[gburk]

Ain't pretty but might be worth a look, hard to beat old stuff, get a good stuffer or slicer with the savings.

IBM Meat Grinder - general for sale - by owner

Old IBM Meat Grinder. Very powerful, two sets of blades.

grandrapids.craigslist.org

^^ pre-Lenovo machine

 

[gburk]

I have a #22 LEM and it's great except it does get a little warm when grinding semi-frozen stuff, which i'm not a huge fan of. Works good though, I can't complain too much. Much better than the Kitchen Aid attachment I used before.

I like the old grinder idea but the heads are all tinned castings, rather than stainless, and just not as nice to clean up. That's probably not a big deal, really, but kind of a hang-up for me.

 

[gburk]

Unfortunately I wouldn't go so far as to say the Asian-made grinders like the one I have are true buy-once, cry-once material. That said it should last a long time and you'll be much happier using it.

 

[millerkiller77]

I have a 1.5hp (#32) MEAT! grinder, It's pretty beefy and has never overheated on me. I ground 5 deer in one setting (only straps an loins kept whole) without any hiccups. Regardless of what grinder you get, purchase a foot switch .
I dont use the sausage attachment on grinders, imo they leave voids & air pockets in the casing. I get much better results from traditional hand crank stuffers..
I haven't seen it mentioned, but if you're making any volume of ground meat or different flavored sausage you really should get a meat mixer. Freezing hands and hours of kneading just sucks, and the meat mixer will give you more even consistency batch to batch. I use a 7 gallon dual paddle manual mixer, take the crank handle off and attach a variable speed 1/2" drill.

 

[jbaer]

I got the 1/2 hp MEAT dual grind machine recently. Put the first batch through it last night, probably about 15 lbs with beef trim mixed in. I'd say it took under 10 minutes to chew through, and that was partly because I couldn't keep up with it. I will end up getting the foot pedal.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

It’s interesting how many folks say they have burned up motors or have had poor luck with the attachments. Hasn’t been my experience but I admit I’m basically grinding an elk and a deer a year and that’s really the only use that thing gets. We got that KitchenAid as a wedding gift 12 years ago and the only time I’ve used it for something other than grinding meat was a few days ago when I used it to whip butter for some chocolate chip cookies.

If my KitchenAid ever dies I will be buying a heavy duty grinder, but my recommendation for the plastic attachment was basically one that considers that Wllm already has a KitchenAid, so the cost of getting into something to try it out is pretty low.

I definitely think if you have the scratch, buying a real good grinder upfront is the way to go.

Spent the $40 and got the attachment.

Did 10lbs tonight, 2/5 stars, it’s the shittiest grinder I will tolerate using. It hates fat and binds up constantly, had to free it 5 times, but it got the job done.

Will probably just use it for the other 20lbs of deer I have left and then continue to research a stand-alone grinder. Definitely wouldn’t want to grind 100lbs.

 

[Redman]

Spent the $40 and got the attachment.

Did 10lbs tonight, 2/5 stars, it’s the shittiest grinder I will tolerate using. It hates fat and binds up constantly, had to free it 5 times, but it got the job done.

But it did the job, will probably just use it for the other 20lbs of deer I have left and then continue to research a stand-alone grinder. Definitely wouldn’t want to grind 100lbs with it.

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Darn it I was afraid of that!

 

[Derek44]

Spent the $40 and got the attachment.

Did 10lbs tonight, 2/5 stars, it’s the shittiest grinder I will tolerate using. It hates fat and binds up constantly, had to free it 5 times, but it got the job done.

Will probably just use it for the other 20lbs of deer I have left and then continue to research a stand-alone grinder. Definitely wouldn’t want to grind 100lbs.

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Well crap. That’s not buy once. Hahaha. Sorry for your experience. But yes. I’d just buy the stand alone. You really won’t regret it. My first was the 575 watt LEM and it was great.

 

[Matt Dworak]

I’m a little late to this discussion but I love my 3/4 hp LEM Big Bite. I probably went thru 5 grinders before this one, starting with a little hand crank grinder and gradually moving up each time. This guy will grind as fast as you can feed it. Probably grind 100-200 lbs per year and have had it around 10-years.

 

[thomas89]

Bought a .5 horse MEAT! brand grinder for around $300. Replaced one of those crummy countertop versions. Money well spent, can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner. Did half an elk in about 30 minutes, couldn’t feed that sucker fast enough, definitely get the foot pedal. Saved tons of time with not having to trim every little bit of silver skin and cleaning off the grinding plate/blade.

I think the final straw for me was the “grind” I got from the old one was more “schmeared” through the plates than actually cut even after having it mostly frozen as per the instructions. Just kind of gross to get slop as your end product. Sharpened the blades but still wasn’t quite enough to make me want to keep it. Maybe living in the Midwest shooting one or two deer a year I could have tolerated it but with a pile of elk, deer, and antelope most falls I think it was worth the upgrade.

 

[crock239]

Just ran another batch, about 60lbs through my 0.75hP MEAT! Grinder. Way faster and less effort than my older counter top grinder I killed. No binding, hardly have to push anything down to feed it. The actual grinding is the easiest part of preparing ground meat.

Me and a partner, it took us 3 hrs total to go from packaged frozen "grind" pkgs to 1lb vacuum-sealed pkgs of ground meat.

A lot of that time is us cutting the frozen "grind" pkgs into 1x1 strips before running them through the grinder along w pork fat.

Does anyone use a slicer? Seems like that would be faster and safer for cutting the frozen pkgs of meat designated to be ground into strips

@wllm if u want to further reduce time spent, I highly recommend buying a dedicated grinder and a couple LEM meat lugs, that's made huge difference for our operation....with jobs, kids, etc. it was well worth the few hundred bucks spent to save the time on a "grind day".

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Just ran another batch, about 60lbs through my 0.75hP MEAT! Grinder. Way faster and less effort than my older counter top grinder I killed. No binding, hardly have to push anything down to feed it. The actual grinding is the easiest part of preparing ground meat.

Me and a partner, it took us 3 hrs total to go from packaged frozen "grind" pkgs to 1lb vacuum-sealed pkgs of ground meat.

A lot of that time is us cutting the frozen "grind" pkgs into 1x1 strips before running them through the grinder along w pork fat.

Does anyone use a slicer? Seems like that would be faster and safer for cutting the frozen pkgs of meat designated to be ground into strips

@wllm if u want to further reduce time spent, I highly recommend buying a dedicated grinder and a couple LEM meat lugs, that's made huge difference for our operation....with jobs, kids, etc. it was well worth the few hundred bucks spent to save the time on a "grind day".

There is definitely a part of me that wants to buy a slicer, grinder, lugs, stuffer, and meat mixer and be done with it. Probably take a couple decades of amortization to make it worth it.

 

[Derek44]

Just ran another batch, about 60lbs through my 0.75hP MEAT! Grinder. Way faster and less effort than my older counter top grinder I killed. No binding, hardly have to push anything down to feed it. The actual grinding is the easiest part of preparing ground meat.

Me and a partner, it took us 3 hrs total to go from packaged frozen "grind" pkgs to 1lb vacuum-sealed pkgs of ground meat.

A lot of that time is us cutting the frozen "grind" pkgs into 1x1 strips before running them through the grinder along w pork fat.

Does anyone use a slicer? Seems like that would be faster and safer for cutting the frozen pkgs of meat designated to be ground into strips

@wllm if u want to further reduce time spent, I highly recommend buying a dedicated grinder and a couple LEM meat lugs, that's made huge difference for our operation....with jobs, kids, etc. it was well worth the few hundred bucks spent to save the time on a "grind day".

A friend of mine uses the slicer like you are saying and said it’s the way to go. I just ordered one yesterday so I can finish this years grind

 

[crock239]

There is definitely a part of me that wants to buy a slicer, grinder, lugs, stuffer, and meat mixer and be done with it. Probably take a couple decades of amortization to make it worth it.

Time is money, my friend. Your better half would probably say the same thing.

 

[Derek44]

There is definitely a part of me that wants to buy a slicer, grinder, lugs, stuffer, and meat mixer and be done with it. Probably take a couple decades of amortization to make it worth it.

I’m sure you already do, but don’t forget to factor in the value of your time and frustration saved when amortizing. That is a value that is often overlooked

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I’m sure you already do, but don’t forget to factor in the value of your time and frustration saved when amortizing. That is a value that is often overlooked

Damn you using my own arguments against me

 

[Dave N]

There is definitely a part of me that wants to buy a slicer, grinder, lugs, stuffer, and meat mixer and be done with it. Probably take a couple decades of amortization to make it worth it.

I'll add another reply. JUST DO IT!! It's money well spent. I don't have any lugs but have big enough containers to handle what I'm grinding. Grinder is most important, followed by vacuum sealer, stuffer, mixer and slicer. To me, anyway. Buy a decent unit right away and be done. Watch for sales. If you need a good stuffer look for one with a metal piston plate instead of plastic. I had one and it would bend and allow meat to squeeze past. Good stuff makes it quicker and easier to get the job done and you won't be as worn out when you're done.