Cheapest way to feed my cats well

I'm confused with all these options for frozen food. I don't even know if my cats will eat the commercial raw foods. One cat will eat chicken, beef, and fish but only cooked. Neither cat will touch raw meat of any kind. I will not make my own cat food. What's the cheapest way to feed them fresh or frozen food?

The two kitties are about 6 and 11 years old. I used to feed them just dry food. Purina One. Now I feed them Friskies canned food. They eat between two and three cans a day between them. That's $1.50 a day for the two cats. Recently I started feeding them dry food in the morning, and canned at night to save some money.

So... my goal is to feed them cheaply but healthy. Without making it myself.

Also, they drink plenty of water, I give them fresh water twice a day.

There are some raw feeders here 

Lots of raw feeding FB sites 

Nutro max, Orijen, Royal canin you can ask your Vet

what your cat's needs are then match the food it doesn't 

need to be Vet food. Good quality kibble 8 kg (one month/two months)

if you feed good quality kibble they eat less food, they do need

moist plus lots of fluids as they age. Chicken broth diluted is a big hit.

Plus we all offer our pets real chicken, steak, liver etc

Litter:  Pellets 5.50 per 40 lb. 

Welcome to the site   

Here are some threads for affordable canned foods:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/308964/healthy-but-affordable-canned-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/272192/affordable-canned-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/327692/cheapest-most-affordable-grain-free-or-healthiest-canned-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/330459/...conomical-way-to-buy-friskies-canned-cat-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/306956/new-affordable-petsmart-brand-d

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/292890/4health-now-has-affordable-grain-free-wet-food

Junebuggy said:

 
I'm confused with all these options for frozen food. I don't even know if my cats will eat the commercial raw foods. One cat will eat chicken, beef, and fish but only cooked. Neither cat will touch raw meat of any kind. I will not make my own cat food. What's the cheapest way to feed them fresh or frozen food?

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Most brands of commercial raw foods are complete balanced diets so you just put the food into the cat's bowl to eat. Raw comes in different forms: frozen which needs to be thawed before serving (medallions /  pucks take up to a day, bite sized pieces take 15 minutes or so), freeze dried (ideally redhydrated in water before serving), air dried (like kibble), and dehydrated (powder so it must be rehydrated in water before serving). Most cats won't eat frozen raw right away but may eat freeze dried and air dried raw since they're similar to kibble. Good brands of raw foods to try are Nature's Variety Instinct, Rad Cat, Vital Essentials, and Stella and Chewy's. You'll find raw foods at independent pet stores. The chain stores like Petco usually don't sell raw foods and if they do, it's usually a very limited selection of mostly dog food.

Homecooked diets is another option. The easiest way to do this is to cook ground meat of your choice and then add in a pre-mix for all the vitamins and minerals a cat needs plus some water. UStew and EZComplete are to pre-mixes you can buy directly from the company that makes the product. They are not sold in stores. If you use a pre-mix, making your cat's food takes no more than 15 minutes or so.

There's a separate forum here on TCS with more info on raw and home cooked diets if you are still confused about those options and how much they cost vs commercial canned and dry foods: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

Thanks. I was hoping to get your personal favorite. I don't mean to be rude, but I really want just to know what you personally do.

I have already pored through all the info. I don't think my cats will eat raw.

Junebuggy said:

Thanks. I was hoping to get your personal favorite. I don't mean to be rude, but I really want just to know what you personally do.

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  *maybe check again Lots of people sharing what they're feeding on the threads LTS3's listed     the subject comes up allot...

I personally feed a mix of commercial raw and raw with a pre-mix.

Check out the links I provided for what canned foods TCS members are feeding that are affordable Also see http://www.thecatsite.com/t/334317/at-my-wits-end There are some good tips on page two on how to shop around for the best prices on canned foods.

Thanks, LT. I will check through the threads. So many options!

I don't know of a cheaper way than what you are doing!

If you choose to feed kibble (and I tend to be one of the people who believes that high quality kibble is fine, as long as the cat eating it is healthy and drinks water well), I do suggest that you consider a better brand.  Canidae pure elements isn't too expensive(probably a little cheaper than purina 1) , and is very high quality, or if you need to trim a few more bucks off, Taste of the wild is generally well regarded as a "premium budget" option.

likewise, you can probably swap the canned out for cooked, as suggested earlier for about the same price as the budget canned.

So, swap to a better dry, swap to cooked instead of canned, and you'll be feeding your cats much better for the same or less than you are spending now.

And, as suggested as well, equine horse pellet bedding is great litter at super low prices.