After looking at the posts on this thread I am thinking of making some sausage and started checking out costs. I found some sausage kits locally and they are about $23 (close to $26 after taxes) and the meat that I think I would use is around $4 / lb. So it looks like the cost of the kit and meat is going to be around $5 - $6 per lb plus the cost of pucks.
I can get some decent sausages on sale around here for less money. So the question is ----- does the homemade sausage taste that much better or is there a less expensive way to make it? Am I missing something?
In a word - YES!
Kits will run you more but there are several recipes out there that don't require a kit - only the tools to get going - casings, seasonings, etc. and this route may costs less. While you can buy store bought, home made lets you control what and how much actually goes into the sausage and you get make your own flavor combinations - chicken, basil and roasted garlic was a hit when I made that, but have not seen anything like it locally.
Am currently reading up on weisswurst recipes as I can not find it locally and shipping means frozen or not entirely fresh.
Also, home made cold smoked cheese, smoked sausage and smoked nuts platters make great gifts.
And - have some friends for various (religious?) reasons don't eat natural animal casings so collagen is way they go
Thanks Scotty-G.
Kinda what I thought the response would be. I never thought about using chicken and I am sure that would be a hit. Also less fat - better for my cholesterol.
Looks like I am getting a meat grinder and a kit, at least to start with. Heading into the big City today to do our shopping and will hit Princess Auto - I see they have sausage making equipment and their prices are usually pretty good. Plus they have a satisfaction guarantee that is superb. Hope I don't forget anything as it is an hour drive each way.
I know I will have lots of help here if (or maybe I should say when) I need it lol.
I never use kits just the needed spices, salt, etc. My sausage meat I can get for less than four bucks a pound even here in Switzerland. In France or Germany prices are a lot better. My sausage still costs more than retail sausage from the super market BUT I can tune the taste exactly to my liking, make sausage types that are not (here) available commercially and I know exactly what went in to the final product. That, to me, is worth the slight price difference. Also, stuffin' them suckers is fun.
I use my own seasoning also. Lots of great recipes here. I buy the bigger containers at Sam's club and save a lot of money that way. If you plan on doing sausage I would highly recommend a PID to help control temps, sometimes the temps can swing +/- 15 degrees without one.
I have never calculated out the cost of making my own sausage because to me, it just doesn't matter. You really can't compare homemade to store bought because they're totally different.
I know everything about mine down to what I feed my animals that I raise.
My sausage is much leaner than anyhting you can buy in the store, my coworkers attesst to that.
The sausage kits are not that great a deal, if you buy bulk casing and spices you will get a fairly good saving over store bought. I switched to bulk spices (sausage maker) and get casing locally, over the holiday I made a bunch of fresh beef/pork sausage and figure I had it down to about 3-4 bucks a pound. But I don't use pork shoulder butt, I just go to Costco and get their ground meat. Its usually on the order of about 2 bucks a pound. Fat content is real nice and makes great fresh and smoked sausage. Plus the grinding is done.
Just my opinion
I like to make my own cause then I know whats in it. I can make it as lean or fatty as I like. I have never bought a kit, its a waste. You can buy mixed spices for sausages or buy the individual spices and mix your own. You will need casings and cure plus spices.
I use boned out pork shoulder for my sausage and here it is going for $1.89 a pound. Hog casings run about $.32 per stuff pound. Then you have the spice's and figure $0.20 per pound on the high side. So the cost per pound is around $2.41 for pork sausage. This is based on doing a simple Italian sausage. Compare that to store bought at $6.00 to $7.00 per pound. Plus the store bought has lots more fat content than what you get out of using a pork butt.
If you are making snack sticks using 80/20 we pay around $2.90 per pound. The casing run around .65 to stuff a pound then the spices say .20 per pound on the outside. That's $3.75 per pound. Cost you around 2 bucks for the pucks for 2 hrs of smoke. So you have around $5.75 a pound for sticks. If you do a 5 pound batch you end up with about 50 6" sticks and you have spent around $28 which is one heck of a lot cheaper than buying Slim Jims ;D
As the others have said, you know what goes into your sausages. Never will I buy store sausages again when I can make my own and they are soooooooo much better.
I make sausage because it's fun, and I like to know the contents of what I eat. If my primary concern was saving money, I wouldn't make my own sausage. I'd buy sausage at the closest available grocery store. Even if I amortized the cost of my sausage-making equipment over ten years, and ignored the cost of the ingredients and supplies, the cost per pound of my sausage would be pretty high. I shot two antelope and two deer this year to have meat for making sausage, and I process the animals myself, so I know the meat is clean and lean. But if I calculated just the cost of the driving required to get those animals, at the IRS mileage rate of $.55/mile, that would be pretty expensive meat. So saving money is not one of my motivations for making sausage.
JZ
I see you are from BC. All you have to do is get into sausage making and let it be known that you are doing it. You need to get a few recipes that you are happy with so that you can make good sausage. I used to make sausage for friends that hunted but they did not like the commercial sausage stores. I would buy the pork and they would provide the wild meat. We would split the cost of the spices and the casings and I would smoke it. We then would split the sausage. We both worked together to make the sausage with my equipment. We had a good time and we both got sausage out of the deal. They got their own meat back and they knew what was in their sausage. I am going to guess that I had less money in the pork then they had in their wild meat. The last time we did something like this it came to 1.72/ # split 2 ways.
Kirby
Another reason I make my own sausage is because I don't want to give my game meat to a commercial processor to be turned into sausage, because in most cases commercial processors don't make a separate batch of sausage with your meat. They toss your meat in a bin with other people's meat, and give you a pro rata share of the sausage produced from the meat in the bin. I am careful about how I shoot and process my game, and I don't want it mixed with meat provided by people who are less careful.
Me too! I make sausage because:
1. I like to do it.( started as making jerky as a kid,)
2 I know whats in it.( I buy good quality meats and no fillers i don't want.)
3. I love the taste.( now my family would settle for no less)
4. I control the fat and salt content. ( today's meats are a lot of excess fat and salt)
5. I make it cheaper. (I use wild game,Buy turkeys cheap on holiday sales .59 this year, Pork butts are 1.20-1.60 a lb, Bought tons of boneless country ribs for 1.19 after new years. Also chickens are under 1.00 a lb. I watch for any meat below 2.00 a lb and stock up.)
6. I love smoked sausage or any smoked meat. LOL
Yeah I guess it is kinda like fishing. The wife and I go ocean fishing every year and don't really like the taste of salmon unless it is smoked or canned. If I factored all my costs for this annual event I would probably be around $500/Lb for the fish. Sure not doing it to save money especially since we don't really like salmon.
Anyways I got a grinder and a HM Summer Sausage kit today. I was going to try Mike's Kielbasa but couldn't find a place to buy the cure and casings only. So I had to get the kit. Maybe after some phone calls I can locate a place to get this stuff. But for now I am going to follow the instructions in the kit.
One question though. The kit calls for 12lbs of ground beef to 3lbs of ground pork. I bought 7.5 lbs of each, which is what Mike uses in his Kielbasa recipe. Can I use a 50/50 mix of the beef /pork or should I follow the kit exactly?
(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t310/JZ-bucket/e106.jpg)
QuoteOne question though. The kit calls for 12lbs of ground beef to 3lbs of ground pork. I bought 7.5 lbs of each, which is what Mike uses in his Kielbasa recipe. Can I use a 50/50 mix of the beef /pork or should I follow the kit exactly?
I would give'er. It will just change the texture and flavor a bit. I would not worry, that is the joy of making it your self.
If you don't like it change it up next time. Odds are that it will be good enough to eat ;)
Thanks smokeNcanuck. That is just what I wanted to hear.
I am off to start mixing and stuffing. Wish me luck on my first sausage venture.
Looking at the moutains out your window, you must have friends that hunt and would like to make sausage.
KC
pikeman - we moved out the the country when I retired 3 1/2 years ago and haven't met a lot of people that hunt. But that is a good point. I have made friends with some of the locals and I am sure they can point me to someone that wants to have sausage made from their game. But first I have to make sure I have a recipe that will not disappoint them. My neighbors also farm and maybe I can trade my smoking for some of their beef or chicken. Right now we give them halibut and they give us chicken.
So you were in the big "LOOP" were ya. You might have success get permission to hunt there land if youy butter them up with some sausages and smoked goodies.
Quote from: Quarlow on January 31, 2012, 08:22:01 PM
So you were in the big "LOOP" were ya. You might have success get permission to hunt there land if youy butter them up with some sausages and smoked goodies.
I do that all the time. They love the sausage and after a few years we are good friends and I make more and more connections.
Kirby
I don't hunt ---- mainly because the wife would probably shoot me if I came home with a dead Bambi. I'll shoot grouse but the big stuff just don't fly with the wife. She loves deer and even thinks moose are cute (if you can believe that). Went hunting with my father when he was still alive and we got a moose out in the middle of swamp. He had never shot one before and it was my first time hunting. So that turned out be a bit of a nightmare. Kinda turned me off big game hunting.
But you guys may be on to something. My neighbors don't see much game because they have dogs that guard the farm and chase off any animals that come around. But we don't farm and our dog is a house pet so we see a lot more game. We are on 132 acres and see lots of deer and bear, sometimes the deer are grazing on the grass just below our deck. There are also Moose around but we have only seen about 6 or so since we have been here. So maybe I allow some of the local hunters (that don't have smokers) to come onto our land to hunt. My neighbor is also a retired butcher, which would be helpful with anything that was bagged.
But I would still have to get the OK from the big boss.
I had a aunt that gave hell for hunting and shooting things that could not shoot back. I asked her if the chikens, pigs,or cows that she liked to eat had a chance to shoot back. I told her that none of them cared much for the plan but that is just way life is. She never said anything to me about that again.
Kirby
Kirby --- I just about wet my pants when I read that. ;D
There is however a difference between saying that to your aunt and saying that to your wife. If the aunt gets PO'd who cares you don't live with her and don't expect to get any "lovin" from her. The wife however is a different story.
You have a good point there. My wife loves to eat venison. It is very lean and heart healthy. She is very good a cooking it. You know you have it made when your wife makes sure that you have purchased your licence.
Kirby
Yeah mine loves ocean fishing, which is my passion. So I am not one of those poor guys that has to put an add in the paper that says "boat for sale because the wife says so". I guess my wife is like yours except mine likes fishing and yours likes hunting.
We have been ocean fishing together for over 20 years and she stills gets so excited after catching a decent size fish that she will shake for 1/2 an hr afterwards. And when she is fighting the fish she hoots and hollers without realizing it. I think I get more fun out of watching her play a fish than when I get a big one.
It's nice when your best friend happens to be your wife.