Good morning everybody. Getting ready to do my first batch of ground venison and wanted to add bacon into the grind. Never done this before and I was wondering what sources of bacon do you guys use? Simple Walmart cheap bacon. Good morning everybody. Getting ready to do my first batch of ground venison and wanted to add bacon into the grinder. Never done this before and I was wondering what sources of bacon do you guys use? Simple Walmart cheap bacon? Or something else?

we used to just use whatever was on sale ...

Remember all the work that you put into this, why would you want to skimp on a good quality tasting bacon ?

Yep, some cheap bacon is extremely salty.

I would buy some Wright thick cut quality smoked bacon if I were you and chop it. Don't skimp.

If doing bacon burger I like to cold smoke the bacon a lot more than it comes then use for the grind. Get it right cooked in a skillet or forman grill it will taste like it was cooked on a grill.

For that I buy unsliced part of slab and cold smoke it usually from one of th meat shops.

What percentage are yall mixing bacon to it?

^^^ this stuff - you can get it at Walmart (package may look a little different, but good stuff (just like Wright brand bacon!)


For Venison Burgers, I use around 10-15% bacon ends/pieces, 25% chuck roast (beef) and the rest venison. Makes amazing burgers.
For breakfast sausage 25% bacon ends/pieces, 25% porkbutt, 50% venison.
For 'italian' venison sausage 50% pork butt 50% venison.

Each mix gets it's own custom spices, of course!

Lately I've been putting about 1.25 pounds into a gallon Freezer ziploc bag, pressing it flat (about 1/2" thick), and 'scoring' the meat in the bag into 'quarters'/ patties.
Makes it EASY to pull however much you need out of the freezer and instantly thaw/cook right onto skillet or grill. NO time wasted thawing.
The 'scored' patties make it easy to break-off just enough for 1 breakfast or 1 sandwich/hamburger if I'm cooking/eating alone, or I can pull 2 whole bags out and make a pot of chili in a snap!