Electric Meat Grinders? Why Buy One

There are a host of reasons why everyone should own an electric meat grinder. I have to admit I had no idea before I started researching these machines why I might need one but it’s quite clear to me now that it has to be one of my next purchases. Here’s why electric meat grinders are so essential.

1. The Dubious Quality of Store Purchased Ground Beef

The ground beef which you purchase in a store is far more likely to be affected with E-Coli or other nasties than a piece of beef you buy and grind up yourself. For one thing the store bought ground meat may contain beef from any part of the cow including those parts which you would not find in a joint of meat. These parts tend to be nearer the hide or from the extremities of the cow and are more prone to contamination at the slaughterhouse. You may also find (where allowed by law) that the meat contains a proportion of mechanically recovered meat which has been scraped from bones as well as trimmings along with the pure meat which has been properly ground. The safety of ground beef has often been compromised in recent history with a number of product warnings and recalls.

2. Controlled Ingredients

You know the ingredients which are going into your burgers, meatloaf and meatballs and you can control them. You can reduce the amount of fat (although 15 to 20% should be allowed for taste) and you can add flavorings as you grind. You can use better quality cuts of meat to improve your diet. You can even add vegetables or beans to your hamburger mixture and bulk out the meat as well as improve your families health. The important thing is that you don’t have to add any of those things which are bad for you and your family that the giant food companies add to processed ground meat products like burgers and meat sauces.

Make Your Own Healthy Burgers With an Electric Meat Grinder - 52 Easy Burger Recipes for Year-round Cooking

Make Your Own Healthy Burgers With an Electric Meat Grinder - 52 Easy Burger Recipes for Year-round Cooking


3. Reduced Cost

There are often much better deals on large pieces of meat than on smaller ones or on ground beef. With an electric meat grinder you need have no fear about being able to process any bargains you find and you will have perfect ground beef, turkey or lamb in no time from your purchase, ready to use or freeze. Take advantage of all the discounts and sales you can find on meat and save money.

4. Make Your Own Sausages and Burgers

You can have great fun with a whole set of new recipes available to you and your family once you can grind you own meat. You can experiment with various flavorings and the different textures available from your grinder and work with every type of meat as well as chicken, turkey and fish. The coarse texture from your grinder keeps some of the structure from the meat – a very different result from trying to create any dishes that need ground meat in a food processor.

5. Use Your Meat Grinder on Other Foods

Once you have a meat grinder, you will find that you can grind anything including nuts, vegetables bread for breadcrumbs and hard cheese using the various plates available with your grinder. This releases you from many kitchen chores.

6. Make Food with Better Flavor

Grinding home made meat gives you better, more enjoyable food. Your recipes will taste better than any shop bought sausages, hamburgers, meat sauces and even home made recipes made with ready ground meat as you will produce freshly prepared ingredients for your family.

If you’re convinced, take a look at our post on the how to choose an electric meat grinder, along with reviews of six of the best.

Electric Meat Grinder Reviews

An electric meat grinder is a great buy if you care about the health of you and your family, but there are a lot of these machines around so you may be puzzled at which one to purchase. Here is our review of the best electric meat grinders available today but also guidelines for choosing meat grinders so that you can see why we have picked these six as the best from all the meat grinder reviews we could have done.

Electric Meat Grinder Parts

If you look at each of the parts of a meat grinder, there are particular things to look for when making your choice.

Motor – The motor is what saves you from all the effort you would have to use to turn the hand crank with a manual meat grinder, so you might think that the wattage of the motor would be vitally important. Actually, you don’t need the strongest motor unless you are grinding a lot of meat (maybe a whole deer at a time if you go hunting). The motors on most electric meat grinders range from 150 watts up to over a thousand but the lower end of this scale, perhaps 300 to 500 watts, will do for most of us. Go for a lower wattage than that only if you want to process small amounts of meat at a time. 1000 watt motors can process around 6 to 8 pounds of meat a minute while 300 watts will manage 2 to 3lbs. This may seem like a big difference but if you are only processing 30lbs of meat there is not much in it by the time you take into consideration setting up and cleaning the machine. Your cost will be a lot lower too!

Reverse Switch – This is essential in case any jams occur while grinding meat, so always look for this feature. You will find you need to use it with every grinder.

Blades, Auger (feed screw) and Plates – Ensure that these are made from steel or carbon rather than plastic unless you are only looking to grind very small quantities at a time and you are going to feed the machine slowly with meat. Carbon and steel blades will stay sharp for longest but they have to be cared for well as they are inclined to rust. Stainless steel does not tend to rust but it becomes blunt more quickly.

Number of plates – The machine should come with plates for fine and coarse grinding as standard. A third plate for medium grinding is ideal.

Attachments – A sausage making attachment for making home made sausages will be more useful than you expect. Once you taste a home made sausage you will never want to go back to the store bought version. Some buyers virtually use their machine as a sausage grinder and nothing else.

Body – A virtually one hundred percent stainless steel electric meat grinder is favored by many, but this can add considerably to the cost. It is fine for the outer case to be made from tough plastic if that keeps the meat grinder within budget. The inner parts are more important.

Funnel or Hopper – Ensure that the hopper will take a reasonable quantity of meat at one time, at least 4 or 5 chunks of 1″ cubes. It is not the size of the hopper that counts but the size of the entrance point where the meat is fed into the grinder however that dictates how small you must cut the meat.

Food pusher – Required for safety. You don’t want to be pushing the meat into the workings of the meat grinder machine with your fingers.

Other Things to Look For

When choosing the best electric meat grinder also check out…

Warranty – Electric meat grinders have moving parts that can go wrong. Don’t accept less than a 1 year warranty. As machines come apart you may be able to replace any meat grinder parts which wear out but the motor is the thing that cannot be replaced so make sure it is covered by an acceptable warranty or guarantee.

Easy to Clean – Look for meat grinder reviews which emphasize how easy the machine is to take apart and clean. Not only will you need to take it apart after you have finished grinding for the day, but inevitably, with all machines, you might need to unblock the machine during operation. The easier the machine is to clean, the less time that will take.

Price – These machines are available at a reasonable price, but look for offers, coupons and discounts to get your meat grinder for less. You will find almost every model of electric meat grinder for sale HERE at a discount and with plenty of information and reviews to help you decide.

Now for the six of the best electric meat grinders on the market….

Deni 3500 800-Watt Professional Grade Meat Grinder (Click Image for Details)

Deni 3500 800-Watt Professional Grade Meat Grinder (Click Image for Details)

 

The Deni 3500 professional electric meat grinder has a powerful motor capable of grinding 3lbs of meat a minute and an attractive stainless steel housing. Easy to assemble and clean and a reverse function means you can free any clogs without taking your grinder apart. The grinder includes: a cutting blade, 3 durable die cast plates (fine, medium and coarse), 1 sausage stuffer, 1 food pusher and a large hopper for adding larger batches of meat at a time. You’ll find a huge discount and free shipping on this meat grinder model HERE.

Waring Pro MG-800 Professional Meat Grinder, Brushed Stainless Steel (Click Image for Details)

Waring Pro MG-800 Professional Meat Grinder, Brushed Stainless Steel (Click Image for Details)

 

The Waring meat grinder is a professional quality electric meat grinder with a sturdy brushed stainless-steel housing and an large hopper which can cope with a good quantity of meat. It has a heavy duty 450-watt motor with an extra long limited 5-year warranty. There are 3 cutting plates for fin, medium and coarse meat and 2 sausage attachments for sausages of different sizes. Reverse switch for ease of operation. Wonderful customer reviews give almost 5 out of 5 which is incredible record for a kitchen machine. Free shipping. Discounted price available HERE.

 

 

This 200-watt electric grinder by Rival is ideal for grinding meats as well as nuts, vegetables, and fruits. Coarse and fine grinding disks as well as a sausage stuffer attachment are included to help guide meat into sausage casings. Simple to clean. 1-year warranty against defects. For a great discount and free shipping Click here.

 

Rival 2275-WN Electric Food Grinder (Click Image for Details)

Rival 2275-WN Electric Food Grinder (Click Image for Details)

Maxi-Matic HA-3433A Elite Platinum 550-Watt Stainless Finish Meat Grinder, Gray (Click Image for Details)

Maxi-Matic HA-3433A Elite Platinum 550-Watt Stainless Finish Meat Grinder, Gray (Click Image for Details)

 

The Maxi-Matic Stainless Finish Meat Grinder has a powerful 550 watt motor and an aluminum die-cast grinder head. A reverse switch helps if any jams occur. The grinder has 2 cast iron cutting discs (coarse and fine), a food pusher and kebbe attachment (sausage stuffing tube). The grinder reviews emphasize that this is VERY easy to assemble and to take apart to wash. You can read the reviews and get more details HERE. Free Shipping

 

 

This electric meat grinder has a powerful motor (capable of grinding 176lbs of meat an hour) and all metal parts including carbon steel gears and shaft. It has a reverse switch and three plates for fine, medium and coarse grinding as well as Kubbe and sausage stuffer attachments. According to the reviews this machine is capable of grinding bones as well for pet food, though not part of the advertised features! See the reviews and generous discount available here.

 

Electric Meat Grinder Ends Cranking! (Click Image for Details)

Electric Meat Grinder Ends Cranking! (Click Image for Details)

KitchenAid FGA Food Grinder Attachment for Stand Mixers (Click Image for Details)

KitchenAid FGA Food Grinder Attachment for Stand Mixers (Click Image for Details)

 

This KitchenAid meat grinder attachment is a useful alternative to buying an electric meat grinder if you already own a KitchenAid stand mixer. (It can be used with any of the KitchenAid stand mixers) It means that you can use the motor in the mixer rather than paying for a new one! Less to store too. The meat grinder attachment is useful for grinding all sorts of foods too not just meat including grating cheese, making bread crumbs and dips, salsas and spreads and you can use it for sausage stuffing and making pasta with optional extra attachments. Most parts are dishwasher safe for easy clean-up. Click here for discount and details. Free Shipping.