# Meat Grinder Question



## payson (Feb 9, 2009)

Hello,
 My wife has given me the green light to upgrade my current hand crank meat grinder. I saw this at Lowes and was wondering what the consensus was. 
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...3681-576-MG100
It's a "Waring Pro". Any experience with this model? Are there better options out there for a similar price ($99)? Our primary purpose will be making our own ground beef as well as the ocassional sausage.
Thanks for any help, tips, etc!!!


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## curious aardvark (Feb 9, 2009)

way under powered. 
150 watts is not enough. 
aim for something in the 400 watt plus range.


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## meat hunter (Feb 9, 2009)

Waring makes a pretty good unit but it all depends on how much meat are you going to be running thru it. Years ago, the wife and I used our kitchenaid and we would buy trimmings or beef on sale at sams and grind it, but we are only talking about 10-15 pounds. For that, it worked pretty well, but now we raise out own been and hunt and run on average 3-6 deer thru the grinder. I bought a heavy duty 1hp grinder off ebay last year, around $400.00, and it will run if I remember right 500 pounds and hour. It grinds as fast as I can feed it. It was a great investment. I know on some smaller kitchen units, when working them hard they build up heat and that can transfer to the ginder area. So it pretty much depends on how much your putting thru it and how often are you doing so. Other than that, like I said, Waring makes a good unit.


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## beerguy (Feb 9, 2009)

Agreed depends on your usage.  I have used that model for deer.  It was fine but took a while.  I think it was heating the meat up too.  Not a good thing.  The problem with the big ones is they cost 4 times more.  But you get what you pay for.


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## payson (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks for the reply's! It's only me and my wife so the amount we put through it will be pretty minimal. I can't imagine over 10 pounds at a time. Will this still be too underpowered Aardvark? I don't really want to invest much more than $100 in one so I may be way too limited in my choices. I'm not a hunter either so it won't get that kind of workout. The hand crank one I have is just so poorly made. It's pot-metal and seems to be far more trouble than it's worth. I'm hoping to find an affordable one that I'll enjoy using. That being said, is this type of thing the best option for making ground beef or would a food processor be the way to go? I'll make the occasional bratwurst or whatever so I kind of prefer the grinder route but I'm not set on it.


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## beerguy (Feb 9, 2009)

Sounds like the way to go then.


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## kingudaroad (Feb 9, 2009)

A couple of tips if you get one that small.
  Cut your meat up very small
  Chill your meat to almost frozen
  Remove all gristle as it will clog up
   Chill the head unit in the freezer prior to grinding.


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## bmudd14474 (Feb 9, 2009)

This one would be more power for just a few more bucks. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...028&hasJS=true  Or this one for $99.00. I have this one and did 7lbs of sausage and it handled it no problem. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...028&hasJS=true


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## meat hunter (Feb 9, 2009)

Another thing you may want to try. Check out Craigslist. You can usually find a good deal on a grinder and even a stuffer there. Many times, people, like us on this forum upgrade and they sell their old one. Its worth a shot, you never know. You may find one heck of a good deal.


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## jerseyhunter (Feb 9, 2009)

Go with Cabella's metal grinder, You don't want any plastic that will become brittle when in contact with frozen or partially frozen meat. It will crack eventually.


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## zzerru (Feb 9, 2009)

Good advice here.


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## payson (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanks for all of the good advice! I finally decided on this one:
http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1515
It arrives Monday!


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## venture (Feb 13, 2009)

That Northern Tool unit is a bargain.  Wish I had bought one.


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