Bob's advice is spot on. I had an electric "Suzy Homemaker" grinder and probably ground a couple hundred pounds of sausage with it, but it was slow as all get out, my old #10 hand grinder was faster. The fiber gears went south a couple months ago and I literally laughed, had an excuse to replace it. The problem was that I had 20 pounds of pork cubed up and seasoned, ready to grind with no time to order a new grinder. I found a Waring Pro locally and got that. It works fine for what I paid for it. At least it's got a metal housing and auger versus the plastic parts on the "Suzy Homemaker" model. When this one wears out I will spend the time and money to get a bigger grinder.
If your grinding sausage to make fatties, get the ground meat packaging system from LEM. I had looked at it, and sat on the fence for years. Finally ordered one after thirdeye recommended it. Neatest thing since sliced bread, I'm here to tell ya.
http://www.lemproducts.com/product/ground_meat_packaging_system/bags_tape
After years of fighting the stuffer attachment on the grinder I got a vertical stuffer. Another worthwhile investment. Makes stuffing simple, you can control the speed and stop when you want. Again, I got the most inexpensive unit I could find from Harbor Freight. It works very well, but has the fiber gears. I do expect them to fail some day. When they do, yep, I'll get the more expensive model with metal gears.
Do you see a theme here? Other than the fact that I'm a cheap farker? If you're just dabbling and not sure this is something you'll want to do a lot, you can get by with less. I have been "getting by" for years. If you really get into it and want to enjoy making sausage and not fight with your equipment, it can get expensive. For me it's worth the price. Making sausage is a fun and rewarding hobby.
That being said, I know a guy in Wyoming that makes a lot of sausage and still uses his Kitchen Aid:mrgreen:!
Dang I'm windy tonight.
