Cost is a factor for me and that is why I chose the Chicken Soup as Belle's base food. It was 29.99 for 35 lbs, (at the pet store) which I think is reasonable. Chicken soup is a reasonably priced premium food with good ingredients, no corn, no filler, no artifical colors,no artifical preseratives. Here is the list of ingredents for the adult dog formula: Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul
Ingredients:
Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, whole grain brown rice, whole grain white rice, oatmeal, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, kelp, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake. Vitamins and minerals.
I did use the Purina one ( vet recommened it in past as affordable premium) but it has corn in it. The prices are very close.The online price was anyway. I don't remember the store price. The Purina one ingredents are;
Purina ONE Adult Dog Chicken & Rice Formula
Ingredients:
Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, whole grain wheat, beef tallow preserved with mixedtocopherols (source of Vitamin E), natural flavors, dicalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.
I got ingredents list from ;
Pet Food Supplies Dog Cat Bird ... PetFoodDirect.com
corn is a filler, brewers rice is a by product of the brewing industry and has little nutrition, poultry by product meal, is non specific which means a food with more grain than meat.
I was looking for something without chemicals and no rendered things;
"Unspecific ingredients such as animal fat are pretty frightening. It could be derived from the 4 Ds of the slaughter industry- dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter and could be part of a cow or road kill from how the AAFCO definition is written. It truly bothers me to know that "companion animals from clinics, pounds, and shelters can and are being rendered and used as sources of protein in pet food."
The above statement in quatation marks is from;
Dog Food ~ Decoding Fact from Fiction by Laura Presley
That really got me searching for something within my budget. There are certainly better foods than Chicken Soup but it fits the budget, it wasn't noticeably more than I was already spending. Anyway the above link is a very infirmative article.
From what I've read the people on raw diets really rave and it is supposed to be best for pets. I don't have a lot of info on that. Sounds extremely interesting. I like the Chicken Soup for now. She has done well on it so far. She likes it, which is good.
The premium food is supposed to be highly digestable which should produce less waste,pets should eat less and should be healthier, meaning less vet trips, so the money should actually be less in the long run.
I certainly agree with the above poster that most people " just see dog food as dog food" My sister in law feeds Pedagree and swears its great, and her dogs have beautiful coats, but seem to run overweight and be at the vet a lot. I fed the cats Purina one also until recently, ( dog food search caused cat food search LOL) and they seem healthy, but I still switched recently because of the by products, corn, etc.
The cats aren't quite on board yet, we are still mixing the two, and they prefer the old food, so I may have to try something else with them But that's another story.
Beneful original 
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