Very Inexpensive Grain Free Canned Food

I've been looking at all the generic brands in the various grocery stores.  SuperStore came close, but only one kind was grain-free and it wasn't any cheaper than Grreat Choice.  I've never heard of Stop & Shop, so I assume they aren't in Canada.  

Generic brands of all products compete by copying name brands yet not spending any money on advertising and put less effort into package and design.  No reason they can't be just as good.  Let the ingredients speak for themselves.  I think name brands get away with being crappier quality because they appeal to people by their image and most people don't even read the ingredients.  

Another thing to consider is that, in most places, grain free in a supermarket isn't going to sell so well. A few of ours sell some grain free and it just sits there until it's discounted, expired or discontinued at the store level.

In general, people shopping for pet food at a grocery store are not nearly as concerned about ingredients and quality as we are. I'm still convinced that the Shoppers Drug Mart brand, Amigo, is made by Weruva, although I haven't had time to really dig in and double check. It never sold well at the store I worked at, I don't know if they even have it at the one I'm at now. The 3oz cans of it go on sale 3/$1.49 quite often.

Also, a lot of big brands also make the no name brands - another Shoppers one is Simply Food frozen chicken, it's made by Janes. A bunch of the cleaning products are made by Unilever.

So it's entirely possible that some of these "cheap" brands are made by the same company and just packaged differently for the market. It's a smart move on their part - the mark up on the premium food is pretty high because of advertising and whatnot, but with the cheap foods, the company that owns the brand does the marketing so the cost is a lot lower (sorry if that was confusing).

smitten4kittens said:

I think Giant grocery stores sell Companion brand in my area. I've never tried it though.

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My feral/stray/abandoned cat colony hated Companion. 

Ritz said:

My feral/strayabandoned cat colony hated Companion. 

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One of my cats made burping/regurgitation noises when I tried a cheaper food .(Maybe he's a good actor) The first time I ever heard these noises from him was when I tried the Great Choice. I'm not saying it's a bad food at all, just not for my cat.

I agree if the ingredients are the same like Weruva and Soulistic it's the same product you are paying more money for. But my cat really does seem to like food with fewer by-products I guess. 95% of what I feed doesn't contain any.

nerdrock said:

Another thing to consider is that, in most places, grain free in a supermarket isn't going to sell so well. A few of ours sell some grain free and it just sits there until it's discounted, expired or discontinued at the store level.

In general, people shopping for pet food at a grocery store are not nearly as concerned about ingredients and quality as we are. I'm still convinced that the Shoppers Drug Mart brand, Amigo, is made by Weruva, although I haven't had time to really dig in and double check. It never sold well at the store I worked at, I don't know if they even have it at the one I'm at now. The 3oz cans of it go on sale 3/$1.49 quite often.

Also, a lot of big brands also make the no name brands - another Shoppers one is Simply Food frozen chicken, it's made by Janes. A bunch of the cleaning products are made by Unilever.

So it's entirely possible that some of these "cheap" brands are made by the same company and just packaged differently for the market. It's a smart move on their part - the mark up on the premium food is pretty high because of advertising and whatnot, but with the cheap foods, the company that owns the brand does the marketing so the cost is a lot lower (sorry if that was confusing).

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I was at Shopper's today and took a look at the Amigo brand, but it didn't look that great.  It was indeed on sale for 3 cans for $1.49, but the ingredients included tapioca and rice flour, so I'm not too impressed.  Since the cans are small, it doesn't seem like that great of a deal, either.  I guess your point was just that it's the same as a different, more expensive brand, though.  

SevenWonders said:

I posted this info in another very long thread, but thought it deserved its own

so other people on a budget might have a chance to learn about it.

Unless there are small amounts of grains included in some of the by-products, this appears to be grain free.

Similar to Friskies Poultry Platter (but without the Rice and much less carrageenan)

I am speaking of Grreat Choice Poultry Platter

(sold at PetSmart - usually 40 cents per 5.5 oz can - On Sale for 37 cents right now on their website.)

• Ingredients: Turkey, poultry by-products, sufficient water for processing, meat by-products, animal liver, fish, salt, guar gum, potassium chloride, vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, biotin, folic acid, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper proteinate, manganous sulfate, sodium selenite, potassium iodide, choline chloride, carrageenan and taurine
• Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein (min) 10.0%, Crude Fat (min) 5.0%, Crude Fiber (max) 1.5%, Moisture (max) 78.0%, Ash (max) 3.5%, Taurine (min) 0.05%

Granted, this is not EVO, but a decent food at this price.

I feed it to my Ferals and they enjoy it, and their coats are thick and soft. 

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This is great! By the way, I am reading the reviews on the Petsmart website and was wondering... Did you post a review there? If not, the user ForTheKitties sees eye to eye with you on all levels for this canned food. Hehe

Thanks for this!

EDIT: It is you! Unless it is a VERY small world and both of you are from North Carolina! Ha! How interesting...

le chat fou said:

This is great! By the way, I am reading the reviews on the Petsmart website and was wondering... Did you post a review there? If not, the user ForTheKitties sees eye to eye with you on all levels for this canned food. Hehe

Thanks for this!

EDIT: It is you! Unless it is a VERY small world and both of you are from North Carolina! Ha! How interesting...

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Hahaha, that is funny.  

I forgot that I wrote a review there, but "ForTheKitties" sounds right.

I own ForTheKitties.com and .org - I hope to have a rescue someday,

or at least create a website that will generate some revenue to help Homeless and Feral Kitties.  

Grreat choice is a great choice. Many of their cannned flavors have 10-12% protein and no corn meal or gluten. I found it at patsmart for 49cents for a 3oz can.

My cat, Tank, was diagnosed with diabetes. I took away the treats and all dry food - cats are meat eaters after all, but he was still having a problem. I realized the food had gluten and/or corn meal - carbs anyone? Anyway the vet said he should be eating Royal Canin. Well at $2+ for a 5.6oz can, I was a little put off. Plus there is very little meat and a whole lot of supplements.

Tank hated it anyway and refused to touch it!

Another food I found was Sheba for 50 cents for a 3oz can. Their protein % is about 10-12% as well, and many varieties are carb free!

I think the most important thing to remember is READ THE LABEL!!!! starches, gluten, corn meal, and wheat products raise blood sugar! Plus as I mentioned earlier, cats are meat eaters. The dry food does nothing but cause health problems - kidney stones, diabetes, and tooth decay are at the top of the list. I took my Aunt and her dog to the vet the other day and one girl was there with her cat. The poor kitty had kidney stones. Her vet bill? $1300 dollars! You read that right $1,300 dollars - a massive price to pay that could have been prevented by cutting out the dry food! Yes, I did ask, and the little guy ONLY ATE DRY FOOD. 

I mention the tooth decay because even with tartar control treats, Tank had horrible tooth decay, had to have 3 teeth removed when they cleaned his teeth. Cost? Over $400!

So, please, do your little guys and gals a favor - cut out the dry and look for carb free products for them. It will save you a lot of heartache and money! I am in the process of compiling a list of canned foods that are carb free. I will post it when it is complete.

That would be a huge help!
And I second the Sheba, though my cat runs hot/ cold on eating the stuff. However, the labels if most canned cat food makes me ill. Fillers this, gluten that.

GRREAT CHOICE Canned Cat food

The following have high protein (10% +) and 0 carbs ( no gluten, corn meal, potato starch, or wheat).. there are fillers, but in my experience, the carbs are worse. Tank is doing wonderful! His last blood sugar level was so low, they had to give him glucose! So, I know it's working. Just ask me how well when he wakes me at 3 am to play! By the way, Tank is 8y/o! He gets 1/2 can of food( 3oz can)  4x a day- sometimes more if he really wants it.

Oh and he weighs 14 lbs! View media item 192376
yes, that is my baby!

Hello!  New here but been reading for a bit and have to comment on this thread.  Yes, it is super-important to read the labels, but you need to understand what you are reading.  The percentages you see (usually "Guaranteed analysis") are minimum values, not actual values.  10% protein in a cat food is very low.  "Minimum 10%" doesn't tell you much.  Some manufacturer websites list actual percentages; often calculated on what's called Dry Matter Basis (or DMB) because different foods have different levels of moisture & that needs to be taken into account.   This website explains all that & has a chart listing protein/fat/carb/phosphorous values for many canned foods.

Are you sure that list of food is not called Fancy Feast canned food. None of the GRREAT Choice canned foods where I live is in those flavors. They also do not say Feast on the cans but Fancy Feast has those flavors. I am confused?? Fancy Feast only comes in the 3oz cans so since I feed 7 cats that would not work for me.

Grreat Choice has the Fancy Feast equivalent 3-ounce cans and also a Friskies equivalent in 5.5-oz or 13-oz cans. I believe the little cans are called "Gourmet".

Hope you don't mind if I jump on this thread. 

Is it ok to have fish as the 5th, or 6th ingredient on the list? 

I notice quite a few non-fish based cans of food, still contain some fish. 

An example would be Fancy Feast - Chicken Feast pate (fish = 5th item) 

I think Grreat Choice Poultry Platter has fish as well down the list. 

If those particular cans of food, containing fish, were the majority of a male cat's diet, are we looking at problems down the road? 

Bump on my post above Re: fish as the 5th or 6th ingredient in FF Classics. 

Is that bothersome to any, or no big deal? 

I'm sure part of it depends on the cat. I fed canned foods with fish as the 4th ingredient or so with no problems. My cats didn't have a history of urinary problems but I still add water to their food out of paranoia (these are my first boys).

Some cats have urinary problems and the fish could present a problem (magnesium I think). But if your kitty doesn't have a history of urinary problems then I don't see a problem with it.

That's fair enough Just depends on the cat in question I guess.

Besides, it costs ~ $80 - 100 extra per year for higher quality canned foods, containing no fish.  So, if need be, I can swing that. 

Or, FF Turkey&Giblets interestingly enough, has no fish. 

Exactly. I've read some of the crystal kitty owners say no fish for their kitties, and again I think it has to do with the magnesium. If your cat isn't prone to crystals then you should be fine.

The other risk you run is kitty not eating anything but fish (if fish) if fish is listed 1st. But that's not really what you're asking. I fed fish occasionally and now that my cats are on raw I still feed water packed sardines as a snack.

I've recently noticed the fish in lots of things that I thought were ok, the Fancy Feast (which I wouldn't use as a main food myself but a decent variant or mix-in while she's getting used to new, better stuff), Taste of the Wild, and Authority.  I definitely won't get anything where the main protein is fish but not sure how much to worry about the others.  I'm trying to mainly feed limited ingredient/single protein stuff so I can't imagine the amount of fish from the secondary ones would be enough to cause any problems.

I think a lot of the foods have fish down a ways on the ingredients.  I think it is actually just fish oil.