I have a cheap grinder, work great. I have a low end foodsaver vacuum sealer and it does slow me down a little when I hit the duty cycle on it and have to wait. thatll be the next thing I upgrade, but isnt a huge problem. the two things that are absolute absolute must have are a good boning knife or two (the victorinox 6" straight and 6" curved are my two favorite) and a LARGE cutting board. like, the biggest one you can find at walmart/cabelas. Its also really handy to have a few large stainless bowls around for separating/holding the different cuts of meat as you process. I would say that all in I have less than $200 in all my processing gear.