LEM vs. Cabelas grinder
 

I am purchasing a new grinder and have decided on either the LEM or Cabelas. I have read a lot of reviews but I am still not clear on a couple of points. On my old grinder we had to coarse grind the meat first before doing a final fine grind. My questions are do either require or recommend a 2 step grinding process?, and which feeds ground meat better? I have read that the LEM auger doesn't feed ground meat that well. Any advice or input is welcome. Thanks

Hey ;I have a grinder for sale that does it all no problems with fed etc. 403 540 9854 It's a Tre Spade from CTR Refrigeration in Calgary 1hp it's listed in the buy & sell section

Grinders
 

We have cabelas 22 and I believe 42 grinders we course grind and then grind thru the same plate again we have found on the second grind if you make small balls and drop them into the grinder they go thru better. We are grinding straight pork. What happens is the pork fat coats the grinder and it doesn't want to feed on the second grind We do 4 big pigs into sausage every year and the 42 has sped up our process immensely the Cabelas grinders have a spiral rib on the housing which make them more efficient than other grinders

Edge

I bought the lem the biggest model they offered it was a joke very slow on solids and even slower on the second go around. Was looking at buying the cabelas #42 but haven’t bit the bullet yet

I have the Cabelas 1HP grinder. It is quite the beast, you don't have to pre grind what so ever.

It will coarse grind pretty much as fast as you can feed it, might slow down a tiny bit doing fine grind. Even partially frozen meat is no issue, powers right through it.

I have yet to hear anyone say a bad word about a Cabelas grinder. Get a powerful one if you are doing that amount. You'll be happy you did.

That is interesting because my LEM will grind absolutely anything I put into it with no issues!:confused:
My buddy has a Cabellas grinder( not sure which one) and it works super as well
Cat

I have no experience with LEM. Have had a Cabelas for about 6 years now and don't have an issue with it. We make around 2 - 300 lbs of sausage a year. Can't say that I've ever ground anything just for ground meat though, a lot of the sausage recipes call for the meat to be ground twice. One thru a course plate the second time fine plate. I've found in grinding sausage the colder you keep the meat the better.

Two things I would do different when it's time to replace this one. One is get a bigger one, I've got the 3/4 hp and think I'd be happier with a little bigger. The second is to buy the remote foot switch that they had for it - that would be handy as heck and I don't think they make them for my model anymore

Grinders
 

Purchased one from Edmonton Butchers and Packers. Great machine, grinds as fast as you feed it. Great people to deal with and they do there own repairs on site, as apposed to sending away. They stand behind there products.

I have a cabellas 1 hp. It is amazing! I ground half frozen meat last week, slowed the motor some but still kept pulling it in and pushing it out.

When I bought mine I asked the guy at the store if the bigger 1 3/4 hp was better. he told me they sell a lot of both, but the 1 3/4hp grinder comes back most often. When I asked why he sited 2 reasons.

The first being that it was too fast of powerful for the general user and they couldn't keep up with the feeding vs the output of the machine.

The second reason, and this is why I went with the 1 hp, was because he said the HP was so high on the 1 3/4 model that the torque of the motor with resistance from slightly frozen meat was twisting and bending the auger and housing.

That second issue was enough to steer me towards the 1 hp. and I have never regretted it. Its an amazing machine. think no further and buy the Cabellas.

I think the foot gas pedal - are plug your grinder into the pedal and the pedal to the wall. Interchangeable for various brands.

A remote foot switch can be purchased on amazon. Its called the billy foot switch. Its on or off type switch. I just got one in the mail to control my water stuffer setup and it appears to be a good quality build. The amazon picture is confusing. It has a plugin on the end. You plug your grinder or any other attachment into the pedal.

I have an LEM. It’s only 1/3hp I think. Works great, but it’s noisy!

Maybe I bought the lemon because that thing was horrible.

Thanks

and thanks again. I'll look for it

After many years of excellent, hassle free service, and over 400 pounds being chewed up by our Cabela's 1 HP Grinder each of those years, I have to Completely Concur with the above assessment. https://bigshotsbc.ca/styles/default...s/Pozitive.gif

We have owned many various models.
This on is indeed The Very Best. Period.

Cheers,
Nog

I have the 1 HP Cabela's grinder too. Couldn't say a bad thing about it. Just as everyone else has said. Powers through meat as fast as you can feed it.

I bought the foot pedal from Halford Hide. It's a must

When i was doing some research back in 2014 this is what made me go with the 1 hp Cabelas:

A guy i know had the LEM. They called it the Lemon for a reason. They sold it. I believe they went Cabelas or Weston.

Cabelas 1hp has reverse

Cabelas has their name on a known manufacturer product. I think it was Weston.

Alot of accessories for the Cabelas. A good supply of knives and plates of variuos sizes. I bought everything at once to match it all up so if they changed style it cant be a no go for add ons. They did change to a new style a year later but all the important stuff appears to be interchangeable. I have jerky slicer, meat cuber, patty maker, and a meat mixer. Id get the mixer that tips.

A china special was a no go for me as i want it to last a life time.

WSS only sold a 3/4 for the same price. Theirs was Weston brand which would have been ok too but less for same price.

The 1hp came on sale at white tail season 100$ off

Alot of Solid positive responses on the online reviews. I recall a guy saying if a cow walked by this grinder and stuck her nose in the hole it would grind the whole cow. I laughed as i had already made my mind up but hadnt got there yet.

The gas pedal as mentioned being a must is a good buy maybe the best buy of the whole thing. Id get one regardless of the unit u choose. When you need it its on no noise when not running. The unit doesnt heat up when runnning while not in use. When running dry your knife isnt wearing on the plate. Mine was in the bargin cave with damaged cardboard box.

I ground up two elk last year and a 8 or so deer since 2014, and duck goose breasts for jerky. The unit is paid for in my mind.

I brought over a buddy showed him how well it worked on the duck breast slicing and he went out and bought the works too.

Bought a LEM last year. Ground up everything I threw into it and quickly.
Kicked myself for not buying a heavy grinder earlier in life.
The reason I opted for the LEM was the metal gears versus the Cabela's plastic ones. Read a lot of reviews and some guys complained about an issue with the gears.
They also seemed to run a bit warmer if I recall correctly.
The LEM never seemed to heat up at all.
LEM was on sale on Amazon for about a hundred less than the Cabelas as well and was shipped to my door right from the manufacturer.
I have no regrets.

X2 exactly what I was gonna say. Had ours for 5 years now and done a pile of moose and elk and love it.

I’ve been waiting for the Cabela’s 1hp and all the attachments to come on sale but it looks like I might have to bite the bullet if they don’t go on sale soon .. anybody use the slicer/tenderizer or the mixer ??

I'd look for a good used commercial one. I got a 10" one for $175, and got about $75 in parts to fix it.

I have the mixer. It works best on 20 lbs. or bigger batches. Doing a 10 lbs. batch it just doesn't work good, 15 lbs. is so-so. I have a ring and screws in one of my hands so it gets cold FAST, mixing cold meat by hand isn't pleasant.

Thought this thread could use this video.

Shows just what the 1 HP Cabelas can do. Large chunks of meat with a small plate pretty much as fast as you can feed it with no issues. Only slows down when the meat gets stuck in the feed tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXlq8jiFkg

Buddy of mine has the 1 3/4 go Cabela’s grinder. Between cutting his own meat he also does processing for several friends. It’s amazing how fast that beast will grind an elk! Have no experience with LEM though. I don’t grind much so am looking for a smaller grinder around 1/2-3/4 hp myself. This thread has lots of good info!

I just purchased a Weston Pro Series #32 2 hp grinder. I did a lot of research and it was between Weston or LEM. LEM was out as they seem priced very high. I was not actually wanting a grinder this large but found a really good deal on EBAY. I live only 15 miles of the ND border so with free shipping it was a no brainer. Plus Going to the states for weekends and then bring it home with no duties. So for $400 U.S. I got what I think is a very good deal on a grinder of that size. I also do agree from my research that the Cabelas Carnivore grinder is a Weston Butcher series.

Huh. My LEM 1 HP grinder sounds and works exactly like that too. Swallows up everything I've put through it (even frozen chunks) and keeps on chewing.

The one difference between the Cabelas and my LEM that I like is that the LEM seems to have a longer throat on it (keeps fingertips away from the auger) and no silly plastic guard on the tray. That white plastic guard on the video would be removed fast. Use a stomper (or in my case, fingers) on the rare occasion that it needs it. The LEM has a 2 speed auger design (variable rate of twist on the auger) - not sure if the Cabelas has that design? But much better than a standard rate of twist on auger designs that I've used in the past.

Single coarse grind. Single fine grind. Double grind. Doesn't matter, either brand should pull it all through and do the same thing.

And the foot pedal is a must for all those reasons stated above in previous posts too. Less noise, less heat, control over speed, etc.

Last piece of advice - by the biggest HP model you can afford. Like anything with power, you can never have too much but you can be wanting more. The 1 HP models (again either brand) will do a ton of meat, but if you had a 1/4 HP machine, you may be wanting a little more power/speed sometimes. I had a 1/4 HP machine once. After 15 minutes of using it, I wanted more as my buddies 3/4 HP unit was faster and easier. Together with the 3/4 and 1 HP machines, we can do a couple hundred pounds in no time flat.

J.

I have a Cabela's 1 hp and it is awesome. I was a butcher for 35 plus years and pretty much new what to look for. The cabelas has a reverse, a very nice heavy construction. I did find the auger a bit slow but I'm not in a race. I also found the top tray a bit small so I made a larger one. All in all I have used many different grinders and this ( for the money ) is very good.

I have a Cabela’s 1 1/2 horse commercial series with a 32 throat that I bought on sale when they were making the switch to the new line. It has done 2 beef an elk a moose and4 dear so far and a pile of pork shoulder. I think it would be safe to say 2500-3000 lbs of meat and hasn’t missed a beat. They are a Weston grinder, it will take meat as fast as you can stuff it in there, I think it is rated for 18lbs a minute. I usually only do one grind on my meat but I have used it as a stuffer at times just to see what it was like and I haven’t had any issues running groud through it. It does have metal gears and it may seem like a small thing but it is really easy to clean with that 32 throat. When it’s taken apart you can get you hand right it the neck to wash it. First thing that went was the plastic guard in the tray though! The only lem I have used was my brother in laws and it wouldn’t be a fair comparison but I think it was a 12, felt like an eternity when grinding. One thing I have started doing and keeps things at bay from warming up as fast is throw my tube, auger, plate, and blade in the freezer the day before I’m going to use it, works really well!

Well aftersticker shock of seeing what prices are for processing, I convince the wife that we would be better off in the long run to buy our own grinder. I got 2 deer yesterday and I am not paying 90$ for the regular cuts and then 20$ for them to skin my deer. Processors won’t take the deer if they’re skinned so that’s not an option. I wanted the Cabela’s grinder but ended up with an LEM as that is the only brand my local stores sold with metal gears. I ended up with the .5hp Big Bite grinder. Sure hope that this was a good idea otherwise the mrs won’t let me forget my big “money saving” scheme...