Do you only grind your own wild game?

[wytx]

I'd buy a #22, 1 hp, grinder and you can stuff with it.
Once you get it you'll use it more than you think.

 

[NealS02]

I have a stand mixer and use the grinder attachment and sausage maker add on. It is a worthwhile investment regardless of how you do it though. You are pissing money away by paying a butcher just to grind your meat, and I was never convinced I was getting the actual deer I killed back to me. Field care is super important and some people aren’t as diligent. I want to know from start to finish that quality harvest and butchering was carried out.

 

[wapitibob]

I do all of it except the grind.

 

[IdahoBeav]

It's definitely worth it. I do 50/50 with beef or pork, using whichever domestic cuts with high fat % are available at the best price. I have never ground backstrap or tenderloin, but I do often grind everything else. I have young kids, and they like food with ground meat much more than they like steaks.

 

[BBob]

We process and make all of our own sausage and don’t buy anything commercially made. Like others I used a LEM .5HP #8 for quite awhile and it’s a great machine but earlier this spring I bought a LEM 1HP #22 dual grind and that’s a huge improvement. We still pull out the #8 for small quick jobs but if I were to recommend one grinder I’d buy the LEM 22 dual grind. The dual grind is a time saver. You can sign up for notifications and wait for the deals. My #22 was a refurbished at a big discount. Those don’t last long so if you get a notification and you want it you better buy it quick. I’ve bought most all of my LEM stuff as refurbished. It’s all basically new. Probably new returns they inspect, clean and re-sell. I use a stuffer and haven’t tried stuffing directly from the #22.

Buy the foot pedal! Especially if you are doing the processing by yourself. If you use a foot pedal in a small machine make sure you clear all of the meat out of the grinder before stopping. If you don’t sometimes the machine will stall and won’t restart. If it stalls you have to stop and pull the auger to clean it out. Big time waste there.

I used the Kitchen Aid when starting out many years ago but like others I didn’t want to ruin it and bought a dedicated grinder. Much better and faster way to go.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Zero sausage. I kept the best steaks then burger for the rest of it.


When you guys process youe nest is there a minimum ammount you do to keep it worthwhile to set up the equipment? Just trying to forward think and see roughly how many lbs one should do in a sitting and how long that would last my wife and I.

I do like Timber said, pre-chunk up all the meat and freeze in various quantities then grind later. Lots of times I'll use the chunks for other things but when I grind I'll typically either be doing sausage or if I've done sausage already I'll grind the rest in a big batch. Game can be frozen and thawed and refrozen due to its low fat content, doesn't hurt it. Having said all that, grinders, especially small ones, aren't a huge hassle or anything. You just put the tube and plates on and go.

 

[Bugger]

Whether venison or beef, you won’t find better chili meat consistency than one pass thru the course grind plate. Way better than store bought ground!

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Whether venison or beef, you won’t find better chili meat consistency than one pass thru the course grind plate. Way better than store bought ground!

Most definitely!

Also some people like to use the jerky guns and make jerky sticks with ground. That's another thing you can do with beef throughout the year to justify getting a grinder, though I stick to whole muscle jerky.

 

[Jethro]

The ability to grind when you want makes owning your own grinder worth the cost. On Monday I thawed 7lbs of deboned elk from 2022 and ground in 2lbs bacon for burgers.

3/4 hp from cabelas works as fast as I can feed it. Both meats were ice cold. Grind, mix, grind. 10-15 minutes. Clean up takes a bit longer.

 

[KenLee]

Zero sausage. I kept the best steaks then burger for the rest of it.


Sounds like $475 too much then.

 

[CobraChicken]

So worth the investment. At least get a decent grinder. We have the cabelas 1hp and it just eats through meat. I def has saved us hundreds if not thousands of dollars. (Last 4 years it's seen 6 goats, 3 elk, 3 deer and a plethora of waterfowl sausage). We have a 5 lb stuffer, meat wrap, bag ties, etc. We can do an elk in about a day and deer sized game in a few hours.

I think it helps ya understand the cuts of meat as well. It's work but so worth it.

 

[flyfisher117]

So worth the investment. At least get a decent grinder. We have the cabelas 1hp and it just eats through meat. I def has saved us hundreds if not thousands of dollars. (Last 4 years it's seen 6 goats, 3 elk, 3 deer and a plethora of waterfowl sausage). We have a 5 lb stuffer, meat wrap, bag ties, etc. We can do an elk in about a day and deer sized game in a few hours.

I think it helps ya understand the cuts of meat as well. It's work but so worth it.

I do want/need to learn the cuts and such. I'm getting to that point I. Life where cooking on the pellet grill is exciting but I am not knowledgeable on the meat selections.

 

[MT_Fin]

I am trying to justify buying a meat grinder and learning to process my own game. I am lucky to bag a deer a year, but working on changing that.

It got me questioning if those of you who process your own game also grind your own breakfast sausage or beef burger? Is it a worthwhile adventure? I know it won't necessarily be cheaper but wondering if thr quality difference alone is worth it?

Meat your maker has some grinders on sale, and I was holding off to see what they may have around the first of September. Just wanted to get some feedback and thoughts from those more experienced.

I have only used a processor one time. It was my first elk when I was a teenager and the results were terrible. I’ve done all of my own since then as well as for family and friends so my grinder sees a fair amount of use. Throughout the year I have/will use it for non-game stuff too (grinding chicken or turkey etc). I haven’t done much in the way of cased sausages but do loose breakfast sausage. I would like to get a vertical stuffer to try stuff more though.

I think it’s a worthy purchase personally but depends on the volume of use in your case.

 

[flyfisher117]

I have only used a processor one time. It was my first elk when I was a teenager and the results were terrible. I’ve done all of my own since then as well as for family and friends so my grinder sees a fair amount of use. Throughout the year I have/will use it for non-game stuff too (grinding chicken or turkey etc). I haven’t done much in the way of cased sausages but do loose breakfast sausage. I would like to get a vertical stuffer to try stuff more though.

I think it’s a worthy purchase personally but depends on the volume of use in your case.

Does the loose breakfast sausage turn out OK without any of the stuffers or other sausage tooling? I'd like to make my own breakfast sausage if possible but not wanting to buy extra tools for it right away. I don't really eat cased sausage or anything like that

 

[MT_Fin]

Does the loose breakfast sausage turn out OK without any of the stuffers or other sausage tooling? I'd like to make my own breakfast sausage if possible but not wanting to buy extra tools for it right away. I don't really eat cased sausage or anything like that

Yeah, I do some just loose and some I pre-form into patties. Acts as a regular non-cased sausage. Added fat holds it all together.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I have only used a processor one time. It was my first elk when I was a teenager and the results were terrible. I’ve done all of my own since then as well as for family and friends so my grinder sees a fair amount of use. Throughout the year I have/will use it for non-game stuff too (grinding chicken or turkey etc). I haven’t done much in the way of cased sausages but do loose breakfast sausage. I would like to get a vertical stuffer to try stuff more though.

I think it’s a worthy purchase personally but depends on the volume of use in your case.

Ha, same here. Only once have I used a processor. I had just moved to Missouri, 1st day of rifle season. Killed a 5X4 at first light a mile or better from camp. We had to bring them out whole at the time to get them registered. Took me 3-4 hours to get him out with a bit of help from a good Samaritan. My fault, as I was unprepared to butcher it and not enough cooler space and temps were reaching 80. Took it to a local processor and the results were mostly horrible. I doubt I got much if any of my deer. I vowed to never let that happen again.

Doing it on your own is very rewarding. Grinding your own burger, making sausage, smoking venison hams, etc. You know what goes into everything is your critter.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Does the loose breakfast sausage turn out OK without any of the stuffers or other sausage tooling? I'd like to make my own breakfast sausage if possible but not wanting to buy extra tools for it right away. I don't really eat cased sausage or anything like that

Absolutely!!! If anyone wants a good breakfast sausage recipe, I got a good one.

 

[Jethro]

Does the loose breakfast sausage turn out OK without any of the stuffers or other sausage tooling? I'd like to make my own breakfast sausage if possible but not wanting to buy extra tools for it right away. I don't really eat cased sausage or anything like that

It’s good. I have some on the grill right now. We’re doing breakfast for supper tonight.

 

[SloppyJ]

Over the course of 3yrs I bought all of my equipment to process all of my own game. Is it cheaper? Probably not. Is it 10x better than anything I've gotten from any processor? Hell yes.

The ONLY thing I haven't quite figured out Is sausage. My stuff Is edible but not where I want it. I'm talking about summer sausage and brats. Snack sticks and breakfast sausage Is on point. My Jerky Is dialed.

I normally take about 6 deer every year and I search throughout the year for pork butts that are on sale for $0.99/lb. I throw those in the freezer and mix it into my grind. Makes perfect ground meat for burgers, spaghetti, tacos...etc.

I'd recommend nothing less than a 3/4hp grinder. It just makes it much easier and doesn't heat up and render your fat out. If you're interested, do it. It's very satisfying knowing your family Is eating the best meat out there and that you know exactly what's in it.

 

[6mm Remington]

Absolutely just do it! It's fun and you can make some great stuff. Fatty cheap Pork shoulder roasts are easy to find and make great mixes for fat. If I have 30 pounds of deer, elk, or antelope I put about 15 pounds of chopped up Pok in for it's fat content. That works great for burger. You will love it as will your family.

This Montana company makes some great sausage mixes if you want to make sausage. I have a stuffing tube but have never used it. I make bulk packages of sausage just as I do my burger meat. It seems to work in other recipes that way a little better. You will not be disappointed if you us Hi Country sausage mixes. Here's some of my favorite.





They used to have a German sausage mix that was superb also but I don't see it on their site right now.

Hi Mountain out of Wyoming also makes great sausage mixes. You cannot go wrong with either one.