Hi

I see where you are coming from but actually processed meals for cats (and dogs for that matter) hasn't been around that long. Maybe 70 years?

Most cats would have been working cats - and their food would have been their prey. Cats were kept to keep infestations of mice and rats at bay. They probably scavanged scraps from the kitchens as well.

Most people on here are pragmatic. They feed a combo of raw, dry and wet according to how easy it is to get and what their cats like.

The main concern is how much cereal is in any given food. Many processed food manufacturers 'bulk' the food with cereal which is not easy for a cat to digest. It makes the food cheaper.

However, a cat fed a combo of high protein food usually eats less (unless pregnant or feeding kittens). You need to look for high meat content food, either wet or dry.

Orijen is a dry
Tesco Luxury and/or Finest is a wet

Many feed Natures Menu which contains ground bones (wet).

Raw could actually be quite cheap if you are lucky enough to have a tame butcher. A colleague of mine feeds her Bengals scraps from the butcher at a fraction of the price as he can't sell them.

Alternatively look at cheap mince products in the supermarkets and reduced meat. Possibly meat supermarkets might have bargins. I bought 2kg of halil mutton (boned leg) for £5.40 from a muslim/asian cash and carry. I cut it up and froze it.