LEM vs Meat Your Maker Grinder

[Olympus]

After several years of going to my neighbor's shop to process my and my son's deer each year, I think it might be time to invest in a good quality meat grinder. We typically grind all of our deer into burger so I know the grinder would get used a lot. My neighbor has a LEM brand Big Bite but I don't remember what size. It's pretty big though and you can put half-frozen chunks down the throat and it barely groans to grind it. He doesn't even do a two-grind, he just goes straight to the fine grind plate and it works great. LEM seems to be very popular around here with all the local farm stores and retailers carrying the line with a full assortment of replacement parts and add-ons. A LEM Big Bite #12 0.75hp is about $530 which is about the most I'd want to spend on a grinder.

I've also started seeing a lot of guys on YouTube and forums talking about Meat Your Maker grinders. Apparently they are direct-ship to consumer products and pricing seems to be a good deal cheaper than LEM. From what I've read, the grinders seem to get really good reviews. The same #12 0.75hp grinder is $450, so almost $100 cheaper than the LEM. Or you can even bump up to the 1hp model for $500 and get a bigger grinder and still be $30 cheaper than the smaller 0.75hp LEM grinder.

I think really what I'm asking is whether anyone has tried or seen a Meat Your Maker grinder in person or being used. I believe the LEM grinder is a known entity with a solid reputation and one that I know I can get parts and components for locally. They just may be a little more expensive. What I'm not sure about is whether I could get parts for the Meat brand grinder. Mainly the cutting blade and grind plates. Very interested to hear anyone's experience and/or opinions. Thanks!

 

[5030]

Peruse auctions and FB Marketplace. Wife bought a lightly used powered one for under 100 bucks 2 years ago. No deer here, mostly Elk and Mulies. I donate the deer (minus the mount to the local charity).

 

[oosik]

5030 - a slip of the keystroke??? A mulie isn't a deer in SE Michigan. Don't try to tell me you eat your mules either.

 

[groundcover]

Could be what makes him so tough and ornery !

 

[5030]

White Tails here. Mule deer out west. How's that. We have elk here but the DNR is protective of them.

 

[oosik]

And here ground cover and I had a mental picture of you sitting down to a nice mule roast. I've got white tails, Mule deer and elk here. AND turkey. Man do I hate turkeys. They can "do" your yard like wild hogs in Texas.

Anyhow - I have an Oster grinder. Probably - 1/4 hp. Came down from Alaska with us. I've ground a WHOLE LOT of moose meat with that grinder. Just have to initially chunk the meat into smaller pieces. A really tough little grinder. And it certainly didn't cost any $500.

 

[5030]

Not fond of wild turkey either. Tough as nails. Like to watch them, that's it.

 

[Straightgrain3016]

X2 on doing your own. Whats the use in the proper inspection & care for the harvest, just to have it tossed in with the unknowns that can include chunks of lead, copper, buckshot & pieces of broad-heads.

Still just a hand-cranker for our Blacktail Deer & Roosevelt Elk; I wish we had an electric grinder sometimes.

Front shoulders & trimmings (+25% grass-fed beef) are ground for burger, shanks are ground for jerky.

 

[EddieWalker]

A year ago for Christmas, I bought my wife a LEM 1.5 hp meat grinder. I didn't want to spend that much money, but it was in stock and the smaller one wasn't. I didn't want to go under 1 hp because of what I read online and watched on YouTube. I'm sure they are fine, but there seemed to be a big difference in what you can do with 1 hp over the smaller models. Our goal is to butcher our own livestock for our consumption, and also to feed our dogs.

Since it was so expensive, I did the zero percent payment plan through Amazon. If you apply for their credit card and put the purchase price on the card, it was less then a hundred bucks a month until paid off, with zero interest. Anything else purchased on that card was stupid expensive with the interest, so I canceled the card after paying off the meat grinder. That made it fairly painless. I think I paid it off in 4 months.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074FBK9PT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

It's been over a year now and we still haven't used it. She talks about it every time I butcher a goat, but the meat is so tender that she just cubes it and puts in in the crockpot for the dogs. We've also talked about using it on the chickens so we can cook the bones for the dogs, but we have a bad habit of waiting too long to butcher the roosters and by then, they are too stringy and tough to bother with.

So for over a year, it has sat on a table in it's box. Brand new, never used. Maybe this year we'll give it a try?

 

[Straightgrain3016]

Finally got around to grinding my 2022 Blacktail Buck. 16LBs of burger, 5LBs of shank for jerky.

Running the burger through the smaller plate makes a big difference.

Tip for beginners; use ice cubes or bread to help clean out the grinder