Hand-Cranking "Meat" Grinder vs Food Processor - Oh For The Simple Life!

[Tirza]

I am trying to get away from buying a new expensive food processor. Mine is on its last legs.

I have a Mandoline, and a hand-cranking shredder, so the slicing and shredding part is covered.

I also have a little hand-cranking "meat" grinder and it does a super job of mincing things, but it only has one disc with fairly small holes.

If I were to upgrade to a better hand grinder with several sizes of discs, would that take care of most things?

With my (expensive) big food processor, I am always pulsing, stopping it, opening it up, scraping down the sides, pulsing some more.... Even then I end up with some of it too gooey and some of it still in various sized lumps.

I really like the uniformity that the hand grinder gives.

The only thing I am wondering is how to do without the electric food processor for things that need to get really smooth but are too thick for the blender (like avocado/chocolate pudding)?

[deberaw]

Hi there! I can't answer about the meat grinder, but I have a 10 cup Kenmore FP I got new on EBAY for about $40.00 plus s/h...not too bad and it works fine for the basics I use it for.......................

[RAW]

I like to splurge on expensive FPs at Wally World. Usually cleans me out at $25. The last one I had lasted years of use, abuse, nuts, and onion bread. :D

[tvillemom]

My "cheap" one from Walmart cost me about $60.....and the plastic "tub" is breaking around the lid, like the flip on the lid has broken and I have to hold it on there just to get the FP to run. I am dreaming of a nice Cuisenart or such......sorry didn't mean to hijack this thread!! I wish someone knew your answer though, I might invest in a great heavy metal meat grinder to just pulverize all my products and then stir them together. In theory it seems like it would work.;)

[CrazyDelicious]

Sorry - can't help with the meat grinder as I have never owned one - but I would buy a cheap-O food processor. I have a super-cheap one I got 3-4 years ago and if it broke I would probably go out a buy another cheap one. I also use a mandoline for shredding - my fp only has an S-blade - so I guess it depends how often you use the S-blade setting. I use my fp quite a bit, and have to scrape down the sides, but I make alot of pates and puddings and sauces that wouldn't turn out well in my blender, so I would really miss it.