Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meat grinder. Need suggestions.

Well I moved back to the US a few months ago and am in need of a good meat grinder that can handle 100-150 pounds of game meat per year. I bought my last grinder 15 years ago and sold it when I left. Looking for suggestions. Budget is up to $500.

I have the 1hp from cabelas. It grinds as fast as you can feed it within reason and has a lifetime warranty.

Got to LEM.com
I have a #8 or next size up for what youre doing.


Erbody knows dat

except maybe for the pansy homeowner association phags that don't know how or "arent allowed" to self process. Due to the objections of their soul mate or by decree of the lack of a tree in the front yard they don't own.

BOOM😄😂



Small extra tip from uncle slumlord....get an optional foot pedal switch.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/hom...arnivore-hp-grinder/2122104.uts?slotId=1

I would get the pedal too.

I will second the Cabela's grinder. I picked up the next down from the largest they have. I think it is a 1.5hp motor. We put 2-3 deer and 5-7 hogs through it every year for the past 4 and it still works like a champ. The foot pedal is a very nice touch.

Get yourself some of the plastic 'meat lug' tubs. Theyre great. You can also substitute some bus-boy tubs from Sams or Costo or restauarant supply. The foil turkey boats don't work so great.

Great tip on the tubs. I have the metal ones from a restaurant supply store. Need to get some of the heavy duty plastic ones too. I use my hands as my mixer so a big cheap plastic tote works pretty good for that too.

And while we're on it- for the OP and anyone else

Get yourself one of them extra large poly cutting boards like I have as a base surface. Really helps for man handling and filleting the full lenth of sinew off of those backstraps.

That one is apprx 24" x 36"

I had a Cabelas 3/4 horse Grinder a few years ago. It was not worth the money.

There are two basic types of grinding, whole muscle once, and once ground meat a second/third time.

My Cabelas grinder did well on the first grind, the second grind was a different story, it was slow, really slow and I had to press the meat down hard into the auger to get it to work. Slow grinding is a kiss of death as it overheats the meat and f*cks it up.

I replaced it with a Lem Big Bite grinder. The Big Bite is a special design to the auger that allows to easily capture everything it touches from whole muscle to second and even third grind. I never have to use my plunger, in fact I don't know where it is.

You want a Great Grinder get a Big Bite.

https://www.lemproducts.com/categor...7nc0f8josv30LVm8yVk1AYuLcrhoCKnMQAvD_BwE

I have an LEM #8 I bought about 10 years ago. I've put at least 7 elk, 2 bison, and dozens of antelope and deer through it. Performance has dropped off a little, but I think the blade needs to be sharpened or replaced. I'm looking to get a new one myself and this is the criteria I have. YMMV - get one size bigger than you think is adequate and reverse is a plus if you ever need it, but not mandatory. we have a good sized garden so look for what extra attachments you can get for the future, you never know what you might want to do with it.

as for the "extra's" - definitely get the foot pedal and meat tubs. I have 2 and I think 3 or 4 would be ideal. I use one for breaking animals down into, then carry inside to process.
I prefer the 2 lb bags and hog rings for packaging. grind right into it and seal it up in 1-2 lb packages. totes also work great for taking to freezer. an oversize cutting board is a huge plus when cutting as well.
start to finish I can easily do a deer in less than 2 hours from skinning to finish clean up. it really is slick.

Not to get into which brand is best but cabelas carnivore line grinder is pretty new. I know people with the older cabelas grinders and they didn't like them either.

I was dead set on the LEM myself but a friend got the one I mentioned and I liked it. I also like the lifetime guarantee for what it's worth. I don't think you could go wrong with either one honestly.

Meat lugs are a must!

https://www.amazon.com/Weston-50-Po...1078505&sr=8-3&keywords=meat+lug

Yeah, I had a half dozen stainless deep steam trays I used as lugs before. Probably get poly ones this time.
I was thinking the LEM #12 3/4hp or the Carnivore #22 1hp. They are both close the $500 I am looking to spend.
Never used a foot pedal but will give it a try.

I like a #12.Mine is a General

It is good to see these suggestions all together again. I had lost track of them. LEM was the main one. I quit Cabelas a bit ago as some of their stuff had to be seen before buying. Rusty

For 100-150 lbs I would get the wife one of the big Kitchen aide mixers with the meat grinder attachment. I have been grinding that much for almost ten years with mine and it doesn't phase it in the least. So far in 2018 I have ground two deers' worth of grind meat (about 30-40 lbs of straight venison) and I think 5 pork shoulders (about 10 lbs/shoulder) making sausage and mixing with the venison. I will be doing two more deer and probably four or five more shoulders. That is pretty much the norm each year and that mixer/grinder for the last ten years and a little less for a number of years prior to that. The dough hook mixes meat well, but the mixing bowl will only hold so much. When I make sausage I grind, weigh the meat into batches and add seasoning for the weight and then mix. I am not overly careful about removing heavy tendon and silver skin before I grind. The knife in the grinder cuts it up very well.

I works super well and makes the wife happy when she wants to mix something. Get a refurb on ebay.

Also,consider the dia. of the feed throat.If it's little,your gonna have to cut your meat up into little pieces and that also takes a lot of time.

I have the very same grinder....was my grandmothers on the farm she bought it in the 50's to grind beef, pork and an occasional deer....it has ground tons of meat....

Not the Kitchen Aid! Two caribou (only the cuts suitable for not much else) killed my wife's perfectly good (until then) 3 year old model. Burned the motor out. This was in '95, so maybe they improved.

Can't comment on the second grind capability of mine, whatever it is. I've never done it, but it has first-ground burger meat of two moose, and about 18 caribou in the last 8 years. Probably a General,at least it is made in China. I think I got it through SG. Or Cabelas - I'd have too look. About $180, IIRC, and likely don't. I think it is only 1/2hp. Not real fast, but sufficiently slow for beer drinking. Bigger is always better. Well, almost always.

I use 8 1/2 x 11 cake pans as tubs, transferring as needed to large kettles. Both out of the kitchen cabinets. +1 on the big cutting boards - I have two. I like the idea of the poly tubs.

I only grind the rough stuff- I like roasts, steaks and stews!

Before 2010, I used a $30 hand crank model. (Harbor Freight??). Still have it. Pay for shipping and it's yours. Works well (first grind, anyway), but slow......... Good for toning up for arm wrestling ... More than a dozen moose, and half a dozen caribou through that one (burger meat only). As said - steaks, roasts and stew excluded.

My Granddad, immigrant from Germany, had me in mind, I think, with one of his favorite sayings, " Du zuun vee ged olt, too late vee ged schmart". . 'm half way there!

I need to hold a garage sale.

I bought the biggest grinder that LEM/cabelas to replace my Toledo Chopper. The Toledo Chopper is just too infdustrial for me. It can be wired for 110V or 220V, so it is industrial and really out classes the cabelas grinder.
I have lots of extra knives etc, so let me know if you are interested. I can get pictures after work.