I fought with a ~$300 Cabelas grinder for years. It was terrible. It clogged, heated the attachements, the eat needed to be nearly frozen or it wouldn't move through the mechanism, the sinew would clog, and the tube was small in diameter, requiring small pieces of meat. It was not fun and I hated using it. Last year my wife had the brilliant suggestion that I share the cost of a big grinder with a friend who was dealing with the same situation. I sold my Cabelas grinder on CG or FBMP which covered my half of the new grinder. We purchased a LEM 22 Big Bite. It is incredible, a pleasure to use, eats everything you throw at it, and it is fast. My wife, son, and I ground 40 pounds of elk/beef last weekend. We started with very cold (verge of freezing) meat, but did not need to re-freeze it before putting it through the grinder a second time. We did temporarily store the meat in big soup pots which were sitting in ice in a 75 qt cooler. Grinding twice and packaging in food saver bags took the three of us about an hour. My recommendation is to find a friend to split the cost and go big.
