I can't say enough good things about a food I discovered called Wild Kitty:  http://www.wildkittycatfood.com

The company manufactures a few flavours of prepacked, frozen raw cat food, and the food has been through, and passed, a feeding trial.  This may be the only raw food to have ever been subjected to a feeding trial, and it should be the first step on the path to raw diets having more respect in the veterinary community.  I asked the Wild Kitty people if I could see the feeding trial information, and they sent it to me in email.  The test was performed at UC Davis, and here is the summary of the report:

Summary: Wild Kitty Chicken Cat Food was fed in a gestation-lactation and growth protocol consistent with the AAFCO guidelines to validate the nutritional adequacy of this commercially available raw cat food formula. The results from the reproductive phase of the study indicate that the diet was readily consumed and supported kitten development during gestation, kitten growth during lactation, maintained weight of the queens during this period, and maintained all blood biomarkers of adequate nutrition. Subsequent kitten growth under the growth protocol was consistent with the colony average, and exceeded required blood biomarker levels of adequate nutrition for the growth period. It was demonstrated that feeding a raw diet such as Wild Kitty Chicken Cat Food is complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages.

In addition, the Wild Kitty company came up with the great idea of selling kits so that pet owners could make their own cat food, without worrying about finding/buying all the odds and ends that the recipes required.  There are two kits available, one for adding cooked meat, and the other for adding ground raw meat with bones.  If you want to make cooked cat food, add the contents of a cooked kit to three cups of water, add 3.75 lbs. of ground meat (chicken is preferred, but any meat will do), and you'll end up with 5.5 lbs. of cat food.  That will last an average cat 22 days (suggested serving size is 2 oz., twice per day).  The raw kit makes a bit more food, as you add 4 lbs. of ground raw meat and bones.  Each kit is $11.95, and I think shipping is free, so you can conceivably make 3+ weeks of homemade food for about $16 (I'm guessing you won't have to pay more than 99 cents per pound for chicken).

I have not tried the prepared, packaged, frozen food.  I have tried both kits.  I started with the kits which used cooked meat, as I didn't know if my cats would eat raw, and the food was an immediate hit.  I run a small rescue and I've got thirteen cats right now (ages four months to fifteen years), and all but two cats ate the food immediately.  The two reluctant cats ate it after a couple of days of mixing it with their old food.  I figured I should try the raw too (it would be less expensive for me in the long run because the meat was cheaper), so I made it using chicken thighs and legs that I double-ground.  This time, every single cat ate it like there was no tomorrow, and my oldest, crotchety female cat was actually pawing at my hands as I dished it out because she wanted me to hurry up.  I now make the raw food exclusively.

I've been feeding Wild Kitty for two months.  All the cats look great.  Their poop is small and doesn't stink, and even their urine seems less objectionable (although I'm an obsessive cleaner, so the litterboxes are scooped about four times each day).  Their fur is sleek and soft and shiny.  The absolutely best thing I can say for it is that it's the only food which my four month old IBD kitten has been able to digest.  He went from having chronic cramping and diarrhea (even on Iams Low-Residue, plus Sucralfate), to having normal bowel movements.  And he's growing, finally.  He's still about half the size of his sister, but he's finally putting on weight.  Wild Kitty is the first food which hasn't gone right through him.  A friend in Seattle tried it for her 16 year old cat with IBD and also feels it's been a miracle, as her cat has gained weight and isn't vomiting or having diarrhea.

Obviously, as with any food, your mileage will vary.  Wild Kitty allows me to make "homemade" without worrying that I won't measure a crucial vitamin or mineral incorrectly.  It also allowed me to try making raw food with a safety net, and I'm glad I took that step.  From now on, all my rescue cats and fosters are fed raw, although I still try to condition them to eat canned nonsense like Natural Balance because I know more adopters won't want to make their own cat food.  At least my cats aren't finicky eaters.  I'm saving a fortune now, too -- it costs me a lot less to feed Wild Kitty's raw kits than to feed Natural Balance.  I don't feed kibble at all.

I'm sorry this was so long, but I hope someone will find it helpful.  I've been blogging about pet nutrition (and other topics) for about two years, and I've taken a number of classes on nutrition through sites like the Veterinary Information Network, and I've been frustrated by the close-mindedness (and by the dominance of companies like Hills).  The folks at Wild Kitty didn't just make a great food, they spent the money to prove to vets that it was a great food, too.  I hope this is the start of a new trend.