Do you only grind your own wild game?

[Boarmaster]

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.

I started with LEM and have stuck with them. I always waited for good sale for a new piece of equipment.
I have a 22 myself . Really happy with it. Great performing piece. I never stuffed with it other than 1 lb meat bags. It does that very well.

 

[butcherboy]

Yep, I grind all my own meat. I have also been using a commercial processor for over 30 years. Meat always comes out fantastic and I always know it’s mine and that it’s well taken care of and clean.

Forgot to say that the commercial processor I use looks back at me in the mirror every morning before work.

 

[brancher147]

Always grind my own meat. Usually do 4 or 5 deer every year and a bear every other year or so. Also have done ground jerky and have been doing summer sausage the last couple years. Definitely worth it.

 

[Snowwolfe]

We make our own Italian and breakfast sausage from pork butts. Before we moved back to Alaska would find them on sale for $.99 a pound and stock up. They have a perfect lean to fat ratio (70/30) which results in superb sausage. I make up breakfast sausage in 20 pound batches and freeze in 1 pound bags. It is better tasting and has less fat than any commercial brand and everyone who eats it compliments us on the taste. Best part is you can tweak it as you go, maybe add a touch more heat, or sweet, less fennel, more garlic or black pepper, etc

 

[Boarmaster]

We make our own Italian and breakfast sausage from pork butts. Before we moved back to Alaska would find them on sale for $.99 a pound and stock up. They have a perfect lean to fat ratio (70/30) which results in superb sausage. I make up breakfast sausage in 20 pound batches and freeze in 1 pound bags. It is better tasting and has less fat than any commercial brand and everyone who eats it compliments us on the taste. Best part is you can tweak it as you go, maybe add a touch more heat, or sweet, less fennel, more garlic or black pepper, etc

Pork butts are the way to go for pork sausage.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

I bought a .5hp lem grinder. I think it was 340 from home depot. It paid for itself in the first season. I can run through 80lbs of burger pretty quick.

Peace of mind, knowing exactly what went in to my food (or didn't) is worth it to me.

I need to get a sausage stuffer next.

 

[cusecat04]

Definitely learn to process your own. It's really not that difficult once you get started.

I currently have a junky hand me down grinder from a guy at work. Works for small jobs but not something you want to bother with on larger jobs. Once that dies I will buy something larger to burn through bigger batches more easily.

How you like to cook really impacts how you take care of things and I like having that control during the butchering process.

 

[Devinsssss]

I usually mix roughly 10% beef or pork fat in running it through roughly 10:1 as I go then just regrind it and its mixed perfectly and there is no need to buy a mixer and one less thing to clean after...

 

[Weldor]

Have done my own for years. Most processor's grind in bulk, so you don't know if your getting your meat back. I started doing it out of necessity, we had no local processors for quite awhile. My good hunting buddy learned the hard way. took cleaned and cubed venison to a sausage shop to get some made. When he got it back tasted great, except for the copper jacket fragments in it definatley not his meat.

 

[RS3579]

It’s definitely worth it. Check out Con Yeager spice company. That’s were I purchase all the sauce mixes and kits.

 

[dreadi]

Yes, I bought a grinder last year instead of always borrowing one. I ground a bear, two deer, and an elk last year. So far this year a bear. It doesn't take long to justify not paying someone else to do the work if you have time and space for it.

 

[WCB]

I would no doubt save a bunch of money if I did my own. I do debone and cut my own steaks roasts/whatever. But I don't want to store a grinder and the couple times I have done it...just something I would rather not spend my time doing. So I wait until the end of the season and bring all my trim in to get burger and specialty items made. I have it cleaned a cubed up ready to go right into a grinder. With in a week or two I have it back from the processor. Since I wait until the end of season/even a couple months after and bring a large quantity I know I am getting my meat back and the processor thanks me every time I come in that what I bring in is so clean and ready to go.

If/when I do buy store bought meat it is from the same place and have a good relationship with them. Again, for me just something I prefer to farm out to someone else. This year is going to get expensive with a Moose in AB, Elk/Deer in MT, ND deer and hunting deer at home.

 

[Lowedown]

Take control of processing your harvest!
A grinder will quickly pay for itself
YOU will have control and knowledge of the quality of every piece you process
YOU will know every ounce is YOUR harvest and not part of someone else's!
YOU can make any type of sausage you wish for MUCH cheaper than the processor
YOU decide what to do with every cut of the animal.
YOU will build your skills and those of your family

 

[Northwest Outdoors]

Like many others, I got hosed using a meat locker back in the day, so we've always done all of our own butchering and processing. We've always done the steaks, roasts and stew meat etc but have only been grinding our own burger the last few years and it is so worth it. Like several others have already mentioned, you know exactly what you're getting back and what does or doesn't go into it. You won't regret it!

 

[dylanvb]

Any of you guys have experience with the Cabela's Pro series DC Grinder? its only .5 HP but in my budget. Trying to see if that will get me through a couple of seasons before needing to upgrade. Got my first bear this year that I want to turn into burger and maybe some sausage.

 

[saskhunter]

Even if it's just to grind one deer a year for the next few years, it'll be worth it.

If you wait a few years to buy your own grinder, you might have already paid for it in butchering fees. Butchering your own meat is part of the fun, it cuts down costs tremendously and it's relatively cheap to do everything when all you really need is a grinder, a knife or two, a cutting board and something to pack the meat in.

 

[mtnbound]

Take control of processing your harvest!
A grinder will quickly pay for itself
YOU will have control and knowledge of the quality of every piece you process
YOU will know every ounce is YOUR harvest and not part of someone else's!
YOU can make any type of sausage you wish for MUCH cheaper than the processor
YOU decide what to do with every cut of the animal.
YOU will build your skills and those of your family

This is exactly why I process my own stuff. Had butcher shops screw up orders and not get back what I brought in. Perfect description.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Any of you guys have experience with the Cabela's Pro series DC Grinder? its only .5 HP but in my budget. Trying to see if that will get me through a couple of seasons before needing to upgrade. Got my first bear this year that I want to turn into burger and maybe some sausage.

I don't have experience with that machine, but I wouldn't worry too much about the power. I bought a LEM about 20 years ago or so, it's so small it's not even rated in HP so whatever their smallest one was. I was waiting to kill it before buying another grinder but it never happened, finally bought a Meat brand big grinder this last year when they had a deep discounted sale. That little LEM has been through hundreds of animals and it still works fine, if I'd sharpen the blades it'd probably be perfectly fine. I wouldn't hesitate to use it now if I needed to.

 

[Birdybird]

I grind everything! you can grind store bought stuff as well and you can choose which part to make meat balls

 

[butcherboy]

I would no doubt save a bunch of money if I did my own. I do debone and cut my own steaks roasts/whatever. But I don't want to store a grinder and the couple times I have done it...just something I would rather not spend my time doing. So I wait until the end of the season and bring all my trim in to get burger and specialty items made. I have it cleaned a cubed up ready to go right into a grinder. With in a week or two I have it back from the processor. Since I wait until the end of season/even a couple months after and bring a large quantity I know I am getting my meat back and the processor thanks me every time I come in that what I bring in is so clean and ready to go.

If/when I do buy store bought meat it is from the same place and have a good relationship with them. Again, for me just something I prefer to farm out to someone else. This year is going to get expensive with a Moose in AB, Elk/Deer in MT, ND deer and hunting deer at home.

I really like it when someone brings in their meat like this to grind and make specialty items. Nice and clean ready to go. I’ve kept customers hb, sausage and jerky separate for over 30 years. The smallest batch of anything I make has to be at least 12 lbs of meat. It’s a pain sometimes but at least I can say I’m honest and keep it separate