DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I used to have the hook up when it came to having my deer meat processed. My dad's best friend did it on the side during season for extra cash and would always do it for us, free of charge. Well, between him passing away and me moving out of the area I have to rely on other means now.

I'm not too fond of paying someone $50-60 per deer so I want to do this myself. I've been looking specifically at the Cabela's line of meat grinders. They seem to be very well made. Does anyone on here have any one of these products? I'm unsure about what HP to go with? I was thinking 1HP because it has both forward/reverse. Is the reverse feature something that should helpmake my decision?

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

$50 or $60...you should be so lucky, cheapest in CA around my area is $100 off the top!!!

i have no experience with the cabelas grinders, but my wife has a kitchen aide mixer and i purchased the grinder attachment and it is doing well so far. have had 6 deer through it in 3 years and it have performed very well... to be honest i am sure any old grinder will work ok, the key is to having good clean cut small pieces of meat to be ground up.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Funny you should mention that. A friend here at work just told me about them. I'll have to give them a peak. Thanks

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I had one maybe five years ago, burnt it up the first time I used. But that unit in the picture doesn't look like the one I had.

Mine now is a gear motor bolted to a board coupled to an old hand crack grinder thatI took the handle off of,way cheaper and works great.;)

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

weve been known to use a drill rather than a hand crank on the manual grinders...sure does make it alot quicker work!:D

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I use my Kitchen-Aid mixer, and it works awesome. I've done lots of grinding with it, deer and other stuff, pork/beef/chicken. All without any hiccups. Plus, you can mix sausage and stuff without needing another machine. Definetely worth a look.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Never used the Cabelas line. There are lots of good links/information here:

http://www.sausagemania.com/links.html

When I went to buy mine I researched it pretty hard. I am a tightwad and don't want to let go of money just for the heck of it. Lots of the grinders out there you have to be careful of because they have plastic gears in them. The one I bought is actually Chinese, but it came very highly reccommended from several of the sausage sites. It has a higher wattage motor than most of the grinders in its class, and it has all metal gears. It has run well for me and done everything I have asked of it, it is supposedly a very durable machine. I paid $185 for it, and it is a #12 size. Tasin 108I believe is what it is. If you have $400-$500 bucks there are better machines, but quite frankly, I don't use one THAT much. I do 2-3 deer a year, and it grinds plenty fast for me.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Kitchen aids are amazing.
but they dont come in the 50-60 dollar range
For the basic small Kitchen aide classic you will spend about 200 dollars..
the food grinder is another 64
then another 13 for the sausage attachment.
I have a kitchen aide pro stand mixer
around 400 dollars, a little more balls.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Well, I am getting married in December so I'm sure we could register for the Kitchen Aid mixer along with a few attachments. Only problem is that I may need it before then.

So this is the KA grinder everyone is raving about?

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

You may want to look at LEM products. I got one from them last year and like it a lot. Mine is "refurbished" and cost a lot less than their new ones, but it works really well for me. LEM has all the grinding products that you need.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I feel I keep repeating myself here as of lately about grinders but here goes. I bought a cheap $70-$80 electric 1/3 hp grinder from Wal-mart last year and have put 3-4 deer through it so far and absolutely love it! It grinds up as fast as I can feed it and havent had it bog out yet on me and I have tried to "Test" its durability!! I wouldnt think twice about picking up another one!!
Itis not heavy, easy to move around, simple, easy to clean, and just plain easy!! It might be worth checking out!!??

Asfar as the Cabelas grinder a buddyup the street bought a1hp last year and he has done a few deer and so far so good, helped them grind 2 deer and make some bologna with theres last year and it did really well! It shouldhave though for the price, but if I had the extra cash I would probably have one, the only downfall is it is heavy to lug around but no biggie!!


I stole this pic from Chuck7....he is using the same exact grinder I have in this pic. In all of his reviews I have heard him talk about he has'nt had any complaints either....!!

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I just looked on Walmart and I don't see one that matches what I see in the pic. Do you know what brand it is?

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&search_q uery=meat+grinder&Find.x=0&Find.y=0&Fi nd=Find

BTW....$70-$80 sounds a lot more appealing than $300 or so. Thanks for the heads up.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I bought a large hand grinder at Bass Pro in Orlando about six years ago . It was okay and I burned up a lot of calories grinding up my deer . About 3 years ago D!CK's Sporting Goods Store had their $100 electric grinders on sale for $50 . I bought one plus I had a $10 coupon . I have put about 8 deer through it so far .
The price to have a deer processed around here was about $65 a couple years so a friend told me . I have been cutting up my own deer for several years now . Even when they tag it at the Meat market , you can't be sure that you get your own . I have gotten less than expected as well as more than I should in the past . I take care of my deer and don't want someone' deer that has been riding around in a truck bed for a couple days !
I bought a Foodsaver Gamesaver last year from Cabelas . It does a great job !

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Hey man I am not really sure it is at my grandmothers where I do all my processing but if I get the chance I will run up and check tommorow and let you know! If Chuck7 is on maybe he can get the answer for you easier???

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I 2nd the LEM grinder. I have went through a lot of deer with mineand it works great. I have tried the smaller grinders before (Gander Mtn. version)and they work nice also but it seemed that I always had to keep alot of pressure on the meat with the pusher. With the LEM I can run bigger pieces of meat thru it and it handled them without having to push so hard, if at all.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

i have been looking at the cabelas grinders plan to buy the small one next season.
I looked through the 283 reviews on it there where four who had big issues one guy bought the 1 1/2 hp. model he said it would not work the meat through a second time. The second guy bought the 1 3/4 hp he said he ran a butcher shop at a major store. and he owned his own meat locker. He said he bought it for home use and it would not stuff sausage right and that it would not work the meat through right. The other guy said he ran 20 pounds through it waited 20 minutes why mixing the deer with fatty beef to for sausage i think then toward the end of the second pass through he said he could smell where it was cooking the meat and sizzling from the high heat from the motor.

Out of 283 there where 4 people i saw who gave it a score lower then 4 out of 5. They all bought the big units for home small use. There where properly 10 or 20 who gave it a four out of 5. The rest gave it 5 out of 5. So 4 people returned it and did not like it and 10 to 20 liked it alot but not perfect and roughly 260 love it and give it 5 out of 5. I think if you go with the cabelas unit really think of how big it need to be.

Everyone knows if you go to big you will have just as many issues if you go to small.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Duc~~ The ONLY dowfall that I forgot to mention, was that that the actual GEAR that the hopper connects to is made of a hard poly plastic. It came with an extra gear, but so far it hasnt slipped at all and like I said I tried to "burn it up" so to speak because I figure it's wal-mart they will take anything back...haha...but it surely impressed me and didnt budge so I threw the reciept out and figure I will not need it by the time I would burn up two gears especially the way it is holding up so far!!

Thats the only downfall, and even if I would burn it up within a few years(which I am positive WONT happen) I would not be afraid to but another one!!! As a matter if fact I know I will buy another one if I have a problem or find a good deal!!

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

We use the Cabelas commercial grade stuff- been using it for about three seasons now. We have done more than a dozen deer without a hiccup....

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Looks to me like he's pushing pretty hard to get the stuff through...which is fine if you don't mind that. With my LEM, I put the meat in hopper and let it go on it's own. Every now and then I may have to give it a little help, but rarely and not much.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Im not sure what he's doing, but I basically do the same thing you do as far as letting it go through by itself! I apply pressure to run it faster because I always seem to be in a hurry:D!!

Finch~~ I am sorry I didnt get a chance to check for the model today, I will get to it for you though!!

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

guys in his defense it looks like it has already been ground once.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

No problem man. Whenever you get a chance.Thanks!

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?id=0029507&navCount=1&parentId =cat280028&masterpathid=&navAction=push&am p;cmCat=MainCatcat602009-cat280028&parentType=index&indexId=cat2800 28&rid=

My wife bought me this one for my birthday last year. It's had 4 deer through it and it worked great for me. I do cut the meat up into fairly small pieces before I start grinding but I have had good luck. It's not the top of the line so if you are going to need something that can do a lot of meat at one time you might want to look at more of the commercial line.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

the guy who said i could use his grinder could not find it if he can not it think i might have to buy that i like stuff that says cabelas on it :)

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Finch~~ That grinder is a DAC technologies. 120V 575 Watt Electric

Model# EMP-255
1-800-920-0098
www.dactech.com

I tried that website but all I can find in their site is gun safes and cleaning supplies?? They say that Wal-Mart,K-Mart, Cabelas, etc...carry there line of stuff??

Maybe if your interested enough you can call there 1-800#???

Hope this helps!!!!

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

I used the Kitchen Aid grinder last year and it works very well. My buddies wife had the mixer so I just had to get the grinder attachment......she was thrilled that we used he mixer to grind up some wild hogs.....

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

My father-in-law has the cabelas 11/2hp and it does ok but for the money I thought it would do a better job. Motor does tend to get overheated if you have alot of fat mixed in with your venison.That said we both used kitchen aids for years and they did ok but the Cabelas grinders does it faster. I got lucky and found a 2hp Hobart grinder in a thrift store for $75 and it was the best money spent. I grind usually 50 or so pounds at a time and it takes longer to package it than to grind it.

RE: DIY processors...anyone have the Cabela's meat grinder?
 

Thanks for getting that info. I'll look into it.