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Before I KI LL ED my thrift store meat grinder, made a batch of homemade "breakfast" sausage. Supermarket I go to has nice habit of seriously discounting meat at LEAST 2-3 days BEFORE "sell-by" date. The sausage came out with a very nice flavor but cooked a few patties and can only describe it as hard/tough?? Thinking probably WAY too lean, maybe??

Made about 2 lbs, so divided in half, vac sealed and into freezer... tomorrow IS another day!?! Thinking maybe mixing in some ground "fat" (like salt pork??) might help when I thaw out some? Any suggestions?

Yep...takes more fat than you would think about liking in it. I've heard of some people buying cheap uncured bacon to add to their homemade breakfast sausage.

I make mine with pork butts and can control how much of the fat that I keep when I grind it in my Kitchenaid mixer attachment. Sometimes I have the butcher grind it and it saves lots of time.

I think you need more fat, add a little water to it. I think it loosens up the meat. Have been adding a bit of water to meatballs and they seem lighter or fluffier somehow. I love sausage.

Sausage making technique would be similar to making meatloaf, you don't want to overmix the batch as it makes the final cooked product tough.
Adding water which steams away & help cook the fat out and as suggested, lighten it up for a better result.