LEM #22 Big Bite Meat Grinder Review

My family eats a ton of ground meat. It’s so versatile, and it cooks up quickly, a big plus while trying to keep up with two kids. We use it to make everything from tacos and spaghetti to burgers, sausages, and rice bowls. As a hunter, I harvest our meat myself, and, with our love for ground meat, a significant portion of it goes through the LEM #22 Big Bite 1.0 HP Meat Grinder.

After a successful hunt, I power the big grinder up and have months’ worth of ground meat and sausage packaged and in the freezer in short order. It’s become one of the best hunting-related purchases I’ve ever made.

Yes, it’s expensive, and there are cheaper grinders out there. But for me, it’s worth it.

In short: The LEM #22 Big Bite 1.0 HP Meat Grinder ($760) is an expensive, hefty unit made for serious processing jobs. With a 1-horsepower, 110V, stainless steel-housed motor and a “Big Bite” auger, it’s capable of shooting out ground meat as fast as you can feed the hungry machine. It’s simple to use and clean, very safe, built to last, and surprisingly quiet. If you want sausages, it can do that too. It’s so large, though, that storage may be a problem for some, and it’s overkill for those who only dabble in meat grinding. But if you need something capable of grinding entire animals year after year, it’s a solid investment.

What’s in the Box?

To keep it short, the LEM #22 Big Bite Meat Grinder comes with everything you need to grind meat and make sausages of varying sizes. I love that there’s equipment for making sausages. While not an uncommon feature on meat grinders, it eliminates the need to buy another specialized piece of processing equipment.

There are three stainless steel plates: one with 10mm holes for initial grinds, a 4.5mm plate for final/fine grinding, and a plate for sausage stuffing. For sausage-making, there are three different plastic stuffing tubes: 5/8″, 1″, and 1-3/8″. You can make anything from tiny breakfast links to giant brats.

The LEM #22 comes unassembled, with the motor unit, head, auger, blade, retaining ring, and meat tray all separated. You’ll also find a meat stuffer and bushing removal tool in the box.

Assembling and Cleaning the LEM #22 Big Bite 1.0 HP Meat Grinder

All of that equipment may sound like a lot, but the LEM #22 Big Bite Meat grinder is a breeze to assemble. You start by connecting the grinder head to the motor. There’s a small indent on the head that matches up perfectly with a hand twist star cleat.

Once you have that on, it’s time to insert the auger into the rifled head, followed by the blade, and then the steel plate you plan on using. The entire unit is then locked in with the twist on the retaining ring. You finish it off by clipping the meat tray to the top.

The whole thing can be assembled in less than a minute. Any pieces you’re not using can be neatly stowed in the storage drawer at the bottom of the grinder.

It’s just as fast to disassemble it. It may sound like a lot, but it’s really not. Having the entire thing break down into so many pieces quickly and efficiently is a big plus when it comes time to clean it. You can scrub every square inch down.

For cleaning, I like having a sponge and a handled scrubber kicking around. The handled scrubber is the best way to reach up into the head and clean off the contoured rifling inside.

It’s important to note that anytime you’re assembling or disassembling a grinder, you should ensure it is unplugged. Meat grinders are powerful, dangerous pieces of equipment if you don’t use caution.

Safety Features of the LEM #22 Big Bite Meat Grinder

Fortunately, LEM knows that and built in safety features to keep you safe while enjoying the process of making your own food.

The first safety feature is the power button. It’s not an exposed switch that’s easy to turn on. It’s located in the lower portion of the unit and is covered by a clear, soft-rubber housing. You have to press firmly into the housing to hit the switch. You’re not going to accidentally turn the powerful grinder on by brushing against it.

I personally never plug the thing in until it’s time to press the power button on. Whenever the power gets turned off, I unplug it as well. That may seem excessive to some, but my opinion is that you should take every safety precaution you can. Hindsight doesn’t have to be 20/20.

Once it’s up and running, the safety guard that’s built into the meat tray keeps you from making a catastrophic mistake. You can’t put your hand down the auger at all (though a child could, so keep them far away), and only the included meat stuffer can fit into the tube.

When I first cleaned the meat tray, I found it a bit difficult to clean underneath the safety guard. I briefly thought, “Man, it would be nice if this thing were removable.” That thought lasted all of about 2 seconds. It’s probably better that it’s not from a safety standpoint.

While not necessarily a safety feature, the motor does have an internal circuit breaker. It doesn’t keep you safe, but it protects your investment if something goes haywire for any reason.

Operating the LEM #22 Big Bite Meat Grinder

Be sure to have everything prepped and ready to go before you start grinding, because this grinder cruises through meat. According to LEM, the Big Bite #22’s 1-horsepower motor is capable of grinding 13 pounds of meat a minute.

If you’re looking for a real-world analysis of what that means, the grinder spits out meat just about as fast as I can stick it in. The thing powers through anything you throw at it.

I’ve found that if you don’t have tons of meat stacked in the meat tray, with the weight pushing more into the throat of the head, it can start to slow down. That’s when it’s time to bust out the meat stuffer and push it in manually. You can visibly watch the grinder speed up. It’ll go right back to cooking through it.

In record time, I can have 12 pounds of meat ground and ready to go for my family for a couple of weeks. In all honesty, prep time and cleanup take significantly longer than the process of grinding itself.

If you’re like me and have entire big game animals to grind up, there’s no other way to go. After the long process of getting an animal back from the field, deboned, and trimmed, the last thing I want is a slow grinder. This one makes the final steps of a big-game harvest one of the quickest.

More impressively, the grinder is surprisingly quiet. I’ve been around meat grinders that you have to shout over. This one is so quiet that my wife can have a conversation while grinding, without raising our voices a bit.

Is There a Difference Between the Different Plates?

I usually run my meat through twice: once with the 10mm plate, and again through the 4.5mm plate to get a fine grind. The Big Bite #22 shoots meat out at record speed with the 10mm plate. I rarely, if ever, have to use the plunger with the larger plate.

The plunger is almost a necessity with the smaller plate. Meat that’s already been ground once doesn’t shoot into the auger as well and needs a little assistance. But once you start plunging it, the grinder gets to work and starts shooting ground out at a quick pace, albeit a touch slower than with the larger plate. Since it’s going through smaller holes, that makes complete sense.

When I use the larger plate, a small amount of unground meat (I’m talking an ounce or two) is often left around the blade and end of the auger. I toss that chunk in on my final grind through the 4.5mm plate, and it gets ground with ease. At the end of my second ground, there’s usually a bit of meat gummed up behind the plate, but it’s almost exclusively white, pasty fat. It gets tossed.

Sausage Making

Most of the time, I package my meat right there and stick it in the freezer. But I’m not opposed to the occasional back patio summertime brat, and always like to have a few kicking around. That’s where the sausage-making attachments come into play.

After you’ve ground the meat, clean the entire grinder, and then reassemble it minus the blade with the stuffing plate (the one without all the tiny holes) on the front. Before screwing the retaining ring on, place the desired size plastic stuffing tube on the front of the plate — I find the middle size works best for brats. Then lock it all down with the retaining ring.

Once that’s in place, it works similarly to grinding meat. The auger shoots meat out of the tube and into the sausage casing you place on the tube.

A few tips: At the start, be sure to leave the end open to expel the air the grinder shoots out as the meat moves down and into the tube. Then, be ready. It’s quick and efficient, in fact, almost too quick. You have to be ready to feed more casing at a good clip.

As the auger works, the rate at which the meat comes out will slow. That’s a good time to regroup, and then plunge more meat. Be ready for the fast pace to pick right back up.

A little bit of meat will be left in the tube and grinder at the end. I ball it up and make a few burger patties with it.

The process is easiest with two people, but I’ve found it’s totally doable solo. It may just take a few practice runs to get it nailed. Once you get it dialed, you’ll find it’s tons of fun to play with different spice mixes in your ground meat to get different flavors of sausages.

Why Is It So Expensive?

In the grand scheme of grinders, the LEM Big Bite #22 1.0 HP Meat Grinder is quite expensive. There are numerous grinders on the market with similar specs that are cheaper. Is it worth paying more for this one?

For me, it is. The LEM name is synonymous with quality. The grinder is made with stainless steel rather than aluminum, which is more durable and easier to clean.

Additionally, the motors are built to last. If you plan on grinding a ton of meat, motors of lesser quality will eventually give out, while LEMs have a reputation to keep on trucking.

The Big Bite technology is another big benefit. That particular tech refers to the auger, which has a larger distance between the rifling where the throat of the auger feeds meat into the tube. It allows the grinder to take in more meat at once and prevents clogging. It’s the reason LEM grinders are so fast.

LEM also provides a 5-year warranty with this grinder. The brand has a great reputation for customer service, even outside of warranty claims.

So yeah, you could get a cheaper grinder from another brand, but is it really worth it? They’ll still cost you hundreds of dollars, but won’t be as reliable. If you’re like me and need a grinder that can process multiple big game animals a year, quality starts to matter. I don’t save money by purchasing two cheaper grinders.

Part of the high price is also due to the size of this grinder. It’s large and for big projects. That may not make sense for your particular needs. If you don’t process meat in large quantities, it may make sense to look at some of LEM’s smaller, less powerful grinders with the same Big Bite auger.

Is There Anything Not to Like?

There’s only one feature that I think the LEM Big Bite #22 1.0 HP meat grinder is missing: foot pedal control. I’ve used some meat grinders that have it, and I like it quite a bit. This one doesn’t have foot control, so when the switch is flipped to on, it’s on.

However, that’s not a huge deal due to how quiet the LEM is. It’s not obnoxious to have it running in the background while I move across the kitchen to grab more meat. Still, it would be nice to have foot control, especially considering the price of the grinder.

It’s massive as well. At a touch under 50 pounds and dimensions of 22.83″ x 12.08″ x 18.90″, it’s heavy and bulky. Before buying it, make sure you’ve got a place to store the dang thing. That’s the trade-off you make for ridiculous power and fast grind times.

Final Thoughts on the LEM Big Bite #22 1.0 HP Meat Grinder

I love this meat grinder. After the long, hard work of harvesting, cutting up, and prepping a big game animal for consumption, it makes grinding meat fast. It’s the quickest part of the entire process.

Thanks to its high-quality build, I know I can rely on it for well over the next decade. It’s an investment for sure, but for those who consistently tackle big grinding jobs, I don’t think there’s a better option than the LEM #22.