Best grinder under $200

[BigAntlerGetter]

We did that and went through a grinder a year, save some money and buy quality nothing worse than being half way through grinding and the grinder burns up


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[Pilsner]

I have the old Cabelas brand and 3/4 HP. Unless you are grinding a ton of meat, 3/4 is fine. Alot of guys go up to 1 or 1.5 HP tho

Be advised that since the BPS takeover of Cabelas that their current offerings have ZERO warranty and plastic gears instead of the old good metal gears.
Old Cabelas gear = good.
current Cabels/BPS gear = trash!

 

[nobody]

I had a stand-alone grinder I bought at academy a decade ago. It worked fine.

My wife bakes and has a kitchen aid mixer. I bought the 70.00 grinder attachment for it. It works great for us.

I prefer to grind when I’m going to cook ground meat. So I freeze cuts of meat whole that I’ll grind later. That said, I’ve done 3 small whitetails worth of ground meat at one time with this machine and it worked great.

Of course a commercial grade purpose built machine will be best. But this is a nice option.

Amen to the kitchen aid. That’s all I use, still haven’t bought another grinder. Highly recommend.

 

[Pilsner]

The actual question is:
Do I want to buy once, cry once and have a machine that will last a lifetime
-or-
be cheap and get through this season while watching a tool die?

The cost difference is very little.
An el cheapo is $199 vs a lifetime machine from Vevor or Meat which is $399.
The same math works out for your vac-packer too by the way,

 

[Pilsner]

Amen to the kitchen aid. That’s all I use, still haven’t bought another grinder. Highly recommend.

The Kitchen Aid works great for sub-30 mins grind events. Perfect for grinding by the meal but do NOT try to wait until the end of hunting season to grind multiple animals with just one as it is not built for bulk work. At least not without frequent and annoying breaks for cooling.

Last year we did 74 pigs, 2 buffalo, a water buffalo, a neighbor's cow, 2 elk, and an unknown number of whitetails. So while our needs are much higher than yours, we started out where you are trying to save money and it ended up costing us $$$ in the long run.
And the money saved by buying quality once is not dependent on the number of critters worked up.

 

[nobody]

The Kitchen Aid works great for sub-30 mins grind events. Perfect for grinding by the meal but do NOT try to wait until the end of hunting season to grind multiple animals with just one as it is not built for bulk work. At least not without frequent and annoying breaks for cooling.

Last year we did 74 pigs, 2 buffalo, a water buffalo, a neighbor's cow, 2 elk, and an unknown number of whitetails. So while our needs are much higher than yours, we started out where you are trying to save money and it ended up costing us $$$ in the long run.

Very true. We use it for one mule deer at a time or small batches, which it’s great for. But it’ll burn up if you do what you’re talking.

 

[Pilsner]

Very true. We use it for one mule deer at a time or small batches, which it’s great for. But it’ll burn up if you do what you’re talking about,

My old KA was a champ at doing small batch grinding for sausages before it finally died - not due to over use but due to a power surge.
A great tool that I miss but I am not willing to pay current prices for a new one.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

First deer I used a kitchen aid attachment. It worked but was slow and the mixer got hot, didn't want to piss off the wife so I bought the cheap #8 lem 575watt grinder. Did hundreds of pounds of meat in that thing before replacing it (it still worked) because it was a bit slow but also LOUD, like think food processor noisy motor loud. I have a 3/4hp now iirc and that suits me fine, I limit grinding sessions to <50ish pounds, I don't feel like dealing with more than that. The rest of the trim meat I bulk freeze to later grind as desired (which might include sausage, etc.).

 

[bigbassfish]

First deer I shot I ended up grinding through my great grandmother's hand grinder. Could only feed it golf ball size chunks and there was no hopper. The table I was using was maybe 6 inches too short to stand up straight, and shook every time you'd turn the crank. Just awful, probably took 12 hours and at least as many beers...Let me tell you I bought an electric grinder next season and haven't looked back lol.

 

[Boarmaster]

I’m an old guy. 62. So I been thru the whole gammit and levels of” it will get the job done” after getting tired kissing processor butts. P.S. I did run into some really good ones.

I started with grannies old hand crank grinder (total beyond suck), no wonder grannie drank and cussed like a lumberjack…

Then I went to a KA attachment , it worked and sucked but it worked so much better than grannies I didn't realize it sucked. By the second season I burned up my lady friend’s big KA. Dang I sometimes miss her. She was so pizzed she made grannie look like a nun.

Then one year I ended up at my cousins place and got to use a 1 hp older Cabelas. It was like, so this is how a real grinder works. Total bliss.

I watched the next year for a good sale. Finally LEM had one I thought was a good saving. So I bought my #22 1hp big bite. I enjoy the heck out of processing game and making pork sausages. It probably paid for itself the first two or three years between not paying processor and saving huge on breakfast , Italian, polish, pork, andouille and chorizo sausages.

I’m not trying sell anyone on any brand or size grinder. I don't care what anyone else uses and hope that everyone enjoys their product they produce. I’m just telling of my experiences in the hope it might help that happen.

Final Note: Heat is the enemy when grinding. If your grinder only puts out a couple lbs a minute your going to be running it a long time to process a few animals. Do the math. Versus if your grinder does 12-13 lbs a minute. Which I ain't figured out how to keep a grinder capable of 12 lbs a minute fed. So it gets a bit of a break. I not even going to mention that a good grinder will only require one grind if you have properly chilled the meat.

 

[journeyman713]

If you’re only doing a deer or two a year, and want to save some cash. I have a LEM #8 in good shape I could let go.

 

[ElPollo]

I had a stand-alone grinder I bought at academy a decade ago. It worked fine.

My wife bakes and has a kitchen aid mixer. I bought the 70.00 grinder attachment for it. It works great for us.

I prefer to grind when I’m going to cook ground meat. So I freeze cuts of meat whole that I’ll grind later. That said, I’ve done 3 small whitetails worth of ground meat at one time with this machine and it worked great.

Of course a commercial grade purpose built machine will be best. But this is a nice option.

Will second the kitchen aid mixer grinder attachment. Have ground many deer in one and it’s held up fine. When I butcher I cut up all the meat that I’m going to grind into 1-1.5” pieces and partially freeze them before grinding. If you want a machine that will grind big chunks, this ain’t it. But it works well and is durable.