Recommendations for a good inexpensive home Deli Meat Slicer?

[ultrarunner]

Not looking to spend a fortune... saw a very nice unit at Costco for $2200 which is about 10 times more than I am looking to spend.

Anyone know of a well made, easy to clean/use meat slicer they could recommend for occasional household use?

When I worked in Europe there were several things virtually every household had in the kitchen and a meat slicer was one...

I don't know anyone that has one around here.

 

[npalen]

I would like to have one just for slicing summer sausage if nothing else.

 

[ultrarunner]

Prices seem to be from a low of $50 to ten times that...

Looks like plastic gears that wear out are the number one complaint followed by difficulty cleaning and noise.

I know the ones in the butcher shops are basically silent...

Don't know how important the FDA and NSF approvals are?

Amazon.com: KWS Premium Commercial 320w Electric Meat Slicer 10" Stainless Blade, Frozen Meat/ Cheese/ Food Slicer Low Noises Commercial and Home Use: Kitchen & Dining

 

[Ed of all trades]

Keep an eye out on Crags list. I have a big Hobart deli model that I got for $100. It should last longer than I will. Ed

 

[Bird]

We've had a refurbished Waring Pro FS150 (Waring Pro FS150 Professional Food Slicer - 13075730 - Overstock Shopping - Great Deals on Waring Specialty Appliances) for several years now. We use it mostly to slice tomatoes, onions, and sticks of smoked cheddar cheese. We're happy with it.

 

[Gunny]

Good to see you back Bird, you have been missed

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been told by everybody that I talk to that Cabela's sell some of the best meat processing equipment out there. When we finish our processing kitchen, we are planing on using only Cabela's brand equipment for all our meat processing. I've also been told to get something up a notch or two from the lowest priced models they sell. I haven't looked at meat slicers, just the stuff for making sausages, but would start there and then shop around.

 

[MMagis]

Cabelas doesn’t make anything food related, they sell rebranded products. Grinders are LEM (very nice quality), I’m not sure about slicers. I have one of their cheaper slicers, I think it was a little over $100. I guess it depends on exactly what you want to slice. If you’re slicing things 1/8” or thicker, the cheaper one I have works just fine. But if you want to slice sandwich meat and such really thin, you’ll need to spend some money. The cheaper ones just aren’t set up well to slice meat extremely thin.

 

[oosik]

I had a meat slicer when we lived in AK. It was a PITA because, cheap 'ol me, it was hand powered. Man, to do any amount of slicing, you had to crank your life away. I took it back and got a Hobart slicer. As I remember, it was around $275 - but that was back in '67. It would slice meat paper thin all day long.

 

[JRobyn]

I've had an inexpensive Rival slicer for many years. It is of course, not commercial quality, but it has always done the job well. It is quite noisy (don't care), has plastic gears (very stout nylon, would be hard to break IMHO), is a little hard to clean, just because it breaks down into a number of pieces. But the breakdown makes it easier to clean each piece and makes it very compact for storage. The slicer blade also turns a little slow, so you have to take your time; would NOT do for a high-volume deli making lots of sandwiches at lunch time!

All things considered, and compared to prices for other units, I really like it.