Is a meat grinder necessary?

[Loper]

I'm wondering if a meat grinder is 100% necessary. Do any of you forgo the grinder? One of the biggest reasons is I just don't want one more kitchen item to have to store. Between the instapot, dutch over, blender, air fryer, coffeepot, toaster, crock pot waffle maker, etc. the on the counter and cabinet space is pretty limited. I'm sure I'll get one eventually once we remodel our kitchen, but really don't want one right now.

I've got about 40 lbs of elk that my buddy gave me after I helped him pack it off the mountain this year. I'm thinking I can likely slow cook or smoke some pieces and cut up some pieces into smaller slivers and cook for fajitas.

I know I can take it to a processor, but just wondering for those who don't have a meat grinder, how do to process your meat and what are your recipes or methods for cooking it?

 

[MuleyFever]

Is a meat grinder necessary? Only if you want to grind meat I guess.

 

[jmez]

Steak, roast, and stew meat. All are good with elk.

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[Laramie]

You can typically find a processor that will grind meat for a reasonable fee. That said, buying an industrial grade grinder was one of the best purchases I have ever made.

 

[Tyson]

I bought a grinder that was on sale that can grind 14 pounds of meat a minute, one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It doesn’t take up counter space either, it stays in the basement until I’m ready to grind. I have several friends that bring their deer over and we grind everything up at once.
Personally I love the ground venison, so to answer your question it really depends on your taste. I have no problem grinding an entire deer except for the backstrap‘s and shanks, just my style. Either way I hope you enjoy your elk meat!!

 

[Drenalin]

I like having ground venison, but other than hamburgers, everything I use it in would be fine with chunks instead.

 

[DWinVA]

You can get a grinder attachment for a Kitchen Aide mixer if thats one of the things already taking up counter space. Obviously not as good as a true heavy duty grinder but they work…just takes longer.

God Bless.

 

[peterk123]

Yes. No ifs ands or buts about it. If you process any meat you need one. I have ground 70 pounds in the past two months.

And get a good one.

 

[Bearwhisky]

I would just store it in a closet, basement or attic. Its not like you use it daily. Pull out once or twice a year and grind in batches.


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[ryjack70ss]

You can get a grinder attachment for a Kitchen Aide mixer if thats one of the things already taking up counter space. Obviously not as good as a true heavy duty grinder but they work…just takes longer.

God Bless.

I did this for about 20-30# of ground venison for a few years. I would freeze solid pieces of meet and grind as needed bc it’s a lot slower. Worked good though. I process a lot more meat now and am making more sausage and brats etc so a grinder was a necessary upgrade. If you are just doing a bit and not stuffing, I would go the kitchen aide route.


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[Pickettpuncher]

I’ve been processing my own for over 20 years, never had a grinder. If you want burger, sure, you need one. If we weren’t for wanting sausage I wouldn’t have just bought one. As others have said you can make stew and fajita meat out of most of the trimmings

 

[S-3 ranch]

Food processor
I chunk up some pronghorn, elk and add some extra pork fat & spice to make some custom breakfast sausage before I do a 100-200 lbs sausage batch to try different recipe

How to Grind Your Own Meat with a Food Processor | America's Test Kitchen

Store-bought ground meat is often over-processed, leaving it pasty and dense. Here’s how to use your food processor and grind your own meat at home.

www.americastestkitchen.com

 

[long hunter]

If you're not grinding a lot, get one of those hand cranked grinders.

 

[CoffeeGoat]

You can get a grinder attachment for a Kitchen Aide mixer if thats one of the things already taking up counter space. Obviously not as good as a true heavy duty grinder but they work…just takes longer.

God Bless.

This is what we do, I store it in the freezer and pull it out for grinding for burgers, gyro meat, etc throughout the year.

 

[TheGDog]

Though I haven't used it yet. Since it will only be a single Deer or single Bear. I just popped for the smaller sized one from LEM that I think does 8#/min, keeping it in the box, stored in the garage for now.

I think if I was somebody who routinely got like a big ol Elk, I'd probably pop for a more beefy model (pun intended) with a more powerful motor and rate of grind per minute.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Definitely not necessary. I go through hundreds of lbs of meat a year and will usually only grind if I specifically want sausage. I just throw whatever I would grind in the crock pot over night. I use that to make sandwiches or tacos all week.

 

[HighUintas]

Of course you don't have to have one. But it does offer one the opportunity, if you're processing your own animals, to get lazy and say F it and grind the whole thing.

 

[Loper]

Thanks for all the feedback. I don’t eat a lot of burgers but I do like sausage. I think I’m going to try and go without it for a little bit and see how it goes. If I get bored with the stewed meat I may just go ahead and purchase a grinder.

 

[TheGDog]

Well... all I know is that the Mrs took a liking to the Mild Italian Sausages I'd had the nearby Brees Meats make for me with the "grind pile". But they charge like $99 to do it. So after the 2nd time of having them make it I'm like "Why am I doing this?" since obviously quickly you're already at the price of a Grinder anyone. Plus when YOU do the work... YOU get to be picky and/or generous with the other ingredients you'd like to add in.

That's the best part of cooking at home, the fact that you get to add in more of the ingredients that you like that really make the meal amazing for you!

 

[kodyshriver]

If you’ve got a instapot you can turn your “burger” pile into tender stew meat within a couple hours. Or buy your wife a kitchenaid for Christmas—the meat grinder attachment works great.