Limited cat food choices

So I have a nearly year old orange tabby female cat. I have been feeding her Purina One kitten and now Purina One healthy metabolism. YES I KNOW ITS NOT HOLY BLUE BUFFALO BRAND!!!!
Anyways, I have been wanting to feed her better, so I bought a bag of Rachael Ray Nutrish Cat food- uses real farm raised chicken, no corn, wheat, or by products.
Now. There is only one store in my town that sells any super premium cat food (blue buffalo, wellness, Nuvo, etc...) and I simply cannot justify spending $22 on a 2 lb bag of food.
So I am curious. What department store brand do you consider best (out of the worst I guess)
Iams? Purina One? Iams Naturals? RR nutrish? Goodlife Recipe?
Those are pretty much the only ones I would be able to buy.

I recently started feeding more wet food to my kitty too. The best I could find is new Iams Purrfect Delights- free of corn, wheat, soy, and fillers. What do you think?

Hi there,

If you can find Taste of the Wild grain-free canned and dry food in your area, this would be a decent cat food. The ingredients contain a good amount of meat protein, and the price is not to bad for what you are getting. Here is a link to both the canned and dry food diets for cats and dogs : http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/

By the way, I took a look at the RR Nutrish and it mentions Corn Gluten Meal and Rice in the ingredients list. The dry food diet information at Rachel Ray's website states that the dry food does not contain grains, but then the ingredients list these two items? Here is a link to the dry food diet at her site : http://nutrish.rachaelray.com/cat/dry-food/nutrishcat-real-salmon-and-brown-rice

Ugh. Why is it just IMPOSSIBLE to find any cat food that is healthy without being $2 for a can or $20 for a pound? The TSC in my town only carries premium food for dogs and has a half aisle for cats with just blue buffalo and wellness brands of wet and dry food.

coppercoat said:

Ugh. Why is it just IMPOSSIBLE to find any cat food that is healthy without being $2 for a can or $20 for a pound? The TSC in my town only carries premium food for dogs and has a half aisle for cats with just blue buffalo and wellness brands of wet and dry food.

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I don't think its impossible to find decent food, but as no food is perfect, there will always be some concessions to make when it comes to ingredients.

The price will go up according to the ingredients contained. So if you are looking to feed grain-free without by-product, then this means paying a little more. However, you can get Fancy Feast pates that are grain-free and do not contain just by-product, so this would be another option for you. There is also Authority brand which does not feature by-products, wheat gluten or carageenan. The wellness canned/dry might be better than the Authority and FF in some respects.

I am in Canada and will pay different prices that you might depending on where you are in the world. I recall seeing Authority sold at Petsmart in US/Canada for on average about 75 cents/5.5 ounce can which is quite reasonably priced. Here is a link to the different canned varieties : http://authoritypetnutrition.com/cat-products/adult/canned-food.shtml