need best dry/wet cat food for cheap

recently ran into some serious money issues that cannot be set aside. I had to cut back on alot. was feeding my 2 cats the petsmart authority wet and dry wich worked well. i ended switching to grocery store friskies wet and dads dry cat food. they love the friskies but ive noticed my one is throwing up alot more from the dads dry. can someone help me out as to maybe a better alternative for both wet and dry thats in a good price range? i want my babies to stay healthy!!! even though they love the friskies im not so sure about how healthy it is. thanks in advance

The first thing I noticed about Dad's dry is that the first ingredient is corn gluten meal, which raises flags for me. It looks like it could be higher grain than actual meat! I'm not from the US, so I don't know what's available at smaller stores but the way I scope food out when I'm tight on money is:

- find what's readily available

- pick ingredients you don't want to see in a food. this could make your list dramatically shorter very quickly. As I said above, in my case, I prefer to not feed any food containing corn

- from that list, calculate the price per pound

If you have more latitude with money and can afford to narrow down further, pick ingredients you want to see more of. When we were tight on money, I wanted to see at least 2 meat sources at the top of the ingredients list before anything else, so they'd be in highest concentration. It looks like Dad's dry at Tractor Supply Co is about $0.75/lb if you get a 16lb bag, which I'm not going to lie, is going to be hard to compete with in price if you want a quality food. I think the stuff that's comparable in price is also really low quality, like Kit and Kaboodle for $0.63/lb (has more soy and corn than meat), Cat Chow for $0.81/lb (at least this has chicken byproduct meal first)...

The food I wound up picking as a decent but inexpensive alternative was Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul ($2/lb on Chewy's) versus Authority, which is $1.39/lb. Nutro Max, which at least has one meat-based protein at the top of the list, is $1.56/lb, Purina Pro Plan is about $1.88/lb.

I've found there is a trade off though. Let's say you choose a food that's even more inexpensive than the ones I listed, but they all have more grain and plant-based proteins than meat-based (bigger marketed brand names will spend a lot on commercials, and very little on quality ingredients): I've noticed this made our older cat want to graze more and eat all the time, and he would poop more frequently. Buying a higher meat-based protein food made him end up feeling fuller and needing to eat less, making it easier to meal feed too. More filling means feeding less of it, which can counter the immediate purchase price when you have to repurchase less frequently in the long run. Even for us, we can feel the difference between eating a steak vs. eating a corn cob - which makes you fuller?

I find Friskies works pretty well for us as a wet food, so if you have bulk stores around, they may have big packs of it. My CostCo stores have 48 5.5oz can packs of Friskies wet for $25 (CAD) and when I supplement it with other brands that are a bit higher quality that I buy in 13oz cans, it lasts us a long time. It's not a bad food either, all things considered, and it's pretty affordable. If they like and thrive on the Friskies, go ahead and keep them on it.

thank you so much for your reply and all the great advice. I actually have a tractor supply store very close to my house. when i get paid im going to check it out and definitely browse around the dry foods and see what i come up with. i might actually go with the chicken soup for the cat lovers soul that you mentioned. im very skeptical when it comes to dry food cause i had a cat that went thru hell and i had many high vet bills due to urinary blockages and infections. i do like to keep some dry out so they can snack between meals tho. im glad the friskies wet seems ok. thanks again!

4Health at Tractor Supply is similar in ingredients to Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. $21.99 for 18lbs at my local store.

Ingredients: 
Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, egg product, ground rice, powdered cellulose, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), salmon, potatoes, millet, natural chicken flavor, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, sodium bisulfate, potassium chloride, DL-methionine, choline chloride, dried chicory root, taurine, dried kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberries, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-Carnitine, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Guaranteed Analysis: 
Crude Protein 32.0% (min.), Crude Fat 14.0% (min.), Crude Fiber 8.0% (max.), Moisture 10.0% (max.), Magnesium 0.1% (max.), Zinc 120-mg/kg (min.), Selenium 0.4 mg/kg (min.), Vitamin E 150 IU/kg (min.), Taurine 0.1% (min.), Omega-6 Fatty Acids 2.2% (min.)*, Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.4% (min.)*

for right now i wasnt able to make it to the tractor supply, but i was able to pick up evolve dry cat food for a decent price and the ingredients seem pretty good too. real chicken is the #1 ingredient, so far so good, the kiddies like it and no throwing up. once i have a chance to get to tractor supply i still plan on looking into better price deals and still trying the chicken soup for the cat lovers soul.

Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul is nearly the same exact food at 4health and diamond naturals, all are manufactured by the same place and 4health is just tractor supplys store label.  Its by no means a low carb dry food, but its leaps and bounds ahead of dads, friskies dry, etc.

thanks so much for all your great advice. now i have some decent option to choose from. possible overtime coming to my job soon.....anything for the cats!!!

My favorite cheaper dry food is the grain free Canidae Pure Elements. Super simple ingredients aside from the added vitamins and minerals.

Do you have Costco or Sam's Club nearby? They carry bulk packs of Friskies and Fancy Feast canned.