I've made it from both strips and ground meat, marinated and dry cured and that's why making your own is the way to go. You have a lot of control over the recipe and if you're using ground meat and using a jerky gun makes it a pretty quick and painless job.
I also used to mix the meat and seasonings and pack it into 1lb or 2lb bags, freeze it, and then cut it into 1/8" thick disks and dehydrate. Texture was similar to hard salami when done that way. Besides saving money the best thing about making your own is you know what's in it and you can alter any of the millions of recipes out there to suit your own taste. You like pepper, garlic, onion, add more and try it out.
You can use just about any cut of beef, pork, wild game, poultry and even fish to make jerky, you'll just have to alter the recipe and temp a bit. If you go with ground meat either use lean stuff like chuck or better cuz regular ground beef has too much fat and grease in it. Best bet is to buy a few chuck roasts when they're on sale, trim the fat and grind it yourself.
If you're gonna buy a dehydrator you can start with a cheaper one but you're better off with something that has temp control. The one I use has the heating element at the rear and fan driven so you never have to swap the racks out from bottom to top.
Have a good time!
Mike
