Comments on: Fun With Meat Grinders

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 02:29:25 +0000

That’s funny, Pierre – although with your “knife skills” and interest in meat grinders I’m really starting to wonder! Haha 😉
Kidding aside, do let me know if you end up testing out different optimization strategies like grinding.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 06:52:44 +0000

Ha, I just had this idea today. I googled “food scraps grinder” image search and of course I find this site 🙂

By: Dan Gallagher

Dan Gallagher — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 12:34:26 +0000

Thanks Bentley and Gustavo,
The thought just crossed my mind about using a meat grinder after using a food processor for a few years. I remembered how easy the clean-up was for the meat grinder. Who knew I would find the answer to an off the wall question about vermicomposting at Red Worm Composting after googling it. Thanks again and keep making me a better vermicomposter.

By: tom

tom — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:43:26 +0000

haha, too great. being secret about his worms, which are pretty standard for worm boxes. i would not spend any buck to such a person, what about searching for them in nature?

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:59:17 +0000

Hi all I’m from Mumbai India where all these activities are relatively not really practiced ..
I’m lucky I came across this site . which helped me a lot .
I was looking for a shredder to make hummus & feed for the Worm bin ( which I hopefully should have soon) & all that I found was a commercial heavy duty shredder , very expensive . & that too it was the least capacity com-poster they had.

But now .. this idea is really fantastic for home use .
I have to look up really well to find a meat grinder here, since meat eating also is not done on a large scale, though, I have see the electric ones at the meat shops ( which is a hope that I can get things here too ).
Thanx a lot Gustavo & all for posting experiences & feedback .

One major question is, can I push my luck & mix dried leaves & twigs & stuff. to make the ideal carbon nitrogen mix.?
Another question is, after doing a lot of asking all over the city I found one place which said that they will prepare a small scale bin & give it to me which will make vermicompost for around just 5 yrs .. Sounds strange to me, since I think the worms will reproduce .. wont they ??
Isn’t it a life cycle ..
the other thing which was an eye opener here was the kind of WORM’s used for composting “Eisenia fetida”.. I called up the person making the bin to ask him which worms was he using .. he rudely told me I cannot disclose that .. damn .. now my only chance of saving myself from being hugely disappointed is to see the worms before I buy them . This is the only place which will give me worms on a small scale for home use . will update on the progress .

By: Bella

Bella — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:44:03 +0000

I have just started vermicomposting and have been testing various methods of grinding the food to make the composting process faster. I have a kitchen aid mixer with a food grinder attachment and it has worked wonders for most food, but it does not work on some harder foods like cantaloupe rinds and butternut squash skins.

The lazy man way is the way I prefer any time I can come up with one. To that end I have simplified the need for cleaning equipment, which I consider the worst part of worm food grinding, by using whatever is machine is dirty. It really doesn’t matter if you use a food processor, blender, or grinder as long as it hasn’t been used with raw meat. Sometimes when I intend to use the food grinder for raw meat I grind the worm food first, assuming the batch is also all human food, and just give it a quick rinse before moving on to meat grinding. If I have cantaloupe rinds on the day the grinder is dirty I just throw them in the worm food bag I keep in the fridge and pull them out next time the food processor is dirty.

Like I said I haven’t been at this long but it has fit easily into my low maintenance lifestyle (AKA Laziness) for a couple of weeks now. Usually if something is more effort than I am willing to put in for the long run laziness wins pretty quickly so I am hopeful I have found the lazy man way.

Side Note: If any of you have kitchen aid mixers and are looking for a food grinder for your worm food I highly recommend the kitchen aid food grinder attachment. It may not be the cheapest grinder you can find but it is much easier and faster than manual grinders and you can cut some fat and mystery(you never know what parts you are getting when you buy previously ground meats) out of your diet by using lean and fully identifiable cuts of meat. As much as I love my worms (Both of my best friends have had babies within the last four months and I got a worm farm so the jokes have yet to stop) I don’t intend on buying them any gadgets that are solely worm farm unitaskers.

By: lee from iowa

lee from iowa — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:53:08 +0000

great tip i’ve been trying to justify keeping my old grinder around due to the fact it takes up cabinent space.

By: Larry D.

Larry D. — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:05:56 +0000

I’ve been trying to locate parts to make a huge one for around 9 months.One of these days i will find the main piece.It will hopefully be able to push through large cardboard even to make it like spaghetti.This one won’t be able to turn by hand.But it will hopefully work for a lot of neat stuff.Like say for example old credit card bills thrown in with some table scraps.Once it goes through,you won’t be able to tell what it used to be.And worms will eat it a lot faster!

By: Jerry from Puyallup

Jerry from Puyallup — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:12:24 +0000

I found 2 grinders, both new in box at Value Villiage ( Savers for you northern guys ) for $6.99 Ea. I bought them both, of course.
One is Universal brand (made in China) #2. It looks like the one Gustavo owns. It has 3 cutting wheels to select from. the nose has the wheel and wingnut just like pictured. I know that is correct because it came with the directions in the box.
I tried it out, and it does a great job! I will leave it mounted outside and just quick rinse with water and a quick spritz from a spray bottle of vegetable oil to fight rust to keep it in service!
This unit was made before UPC label codes, and the price when sold new was $27.99 at Coast to Coast stores.
The other is Maid of Honor (by Sears Roebuck) also new in box. the red paint on handle not even marred or chipped. No rust anywhere. the box has the Sears handwritten price label. $3.98
It is slightly different in that it has an internal cutting/grinding blade and then the material is extruded thru end plate (your choice of extrusion holes size) . I have not tried it yet, but it does seem to be a superior design having the cutting wheel internal.
A quick ol line search leads me to think this one was made in the 30’s or 40’s. the maid of Honor grinder was made at least as far back as 1900.
Sorry for the long post, I just find this interesting, hope you do too.
I think this one is going to be kitchen art.

By: Gustavo

Gustavo — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:50:12 +0000

Another thing I’ve been noticing is a difference my worm’s behavior. Previously, when using full pieces of food, it was rare to find a mature worm in the upper part of the bin, they were always in the bottom and just came out at night. Now they are there anytime, even in midday.

Remembering, I have african nightcrawlers (we call then Giant Africans here :D).