I've heard a few people say that Orijen caused some serious tummy upsets.

Someone told me it's quite 'rich' and like some rich foods don't agree with some people, it's the same with the dogs.

My friend did and hers did well on it

It's not really relevant because raw is cheap. If I were so poor that I could not afford to feed Ben and Tai on anything but kibble, I would simply have to rehome them because they would become extremely ill eating such a diet. They may just about be able to manage on Burns, Arden Grange or Applaws, but even that has too many carbs for them to tolerate.

it didn't go over mine

Used Hero for my senior dog and it has stopped her being fussy with her dog food, she likes the food and she seems in excellent health - she is sixteen years young now.

In reply to the OP - I'd rather feed something like Skinners or CSJ if I had to go for a cheaper food.

Frankly though; I do feed Whisper on the best that I can afford and always will. But I do believe that there are plenty of affordable 'in the middle' options (such as the above) that I'd be happy to use if I found myself struggling. And I don't see anything wrong with that!

Really cheap foods are rarely 'cheap' anyway as discussed in a recent thread - as you so very often have to feed far more of them than you would a better quality food - so they may work out more expensive. I have sat down and calculated food costs for a variety of brands and have so often found that the more 'expensive' brands aren't that expensive as you feed less.

Sometimes your dog dictates anyway lol! Whisper loves her 'bit of Butchers' mixed in with her Natures Harvest lol! So maybe I should send her over to Pippa too........

I do want to try raw with Whisper though as I think it'll work out cheaper for a better diet. But I will more than likely be going for raw2go rather than Natural Instinct which I was looking at to start with - because of cost!

What's your opinion on Butcher's food? It's a little more expensive but I have been eyeing it up in the supermarket for a while. It's a bit more expensive but I wouldn't mind if it was decent.

Butchers is ok - it has a high percentage of meat (although that includes meat derivatives) and isn't full of additives and grain fillers. The meat loaf one is probably the best as it has a lot more meat per tin but Whisper prefers the meat chunks in jelly or gravy.

She likes the jelly / gravy texture - I only add 1/2 tin per day to her Natures Harvest but it means she really enjoys her food lol.

In support of local pet shops (good local pet shops) go and ask them! There are cheaper foods than JWB Applaws etc that are in Pet Shops only. These are marketed under 'Platinum' ranges and are bought directly from dog food manufacturer. This manufacturer who make up products by the recipes given to them by large dog food suppliers such as Burns, Barking Heads, Wafcol, and many, many others. The platinum range are great single source ingredient foods - no animal and cereal derivatives but instead specific proteins sources. It is simply packaged - no advertising costs, no wholesaler middle man - so the product is affordable quality. If your pet shop doesn't stock it, or worse know about it, then IMHO they're not a good pet shop.

On a par to the hyper dog - at least once a week we see a dog and owner who will describe symtoms of itchy skin and baldness (often on steroids from the vets which they struggle to afford) we ask if the dog is gnawing between the toes and they are suprised that we know this symptom - and then we ask the question 'what food is the dog fed? - and 'Bakers' comes back 19 times out of 20. In my opinion, yes Bakers is convenient to buy but dogs that show no initial problems can develop intolerences over the years - typically it is a four to six year old dog we see with problems.
I think Bakers is over priced - when you read the ingredients of a beef food - the beef is only 4% of a single kibble ie it is only 4% of 25% of the product and if my crappy maths is right thats only 1% of the overall food. On reading another post where the lady states that her dog leaves the black kibbles, then that dog is not getting the full nutrition that Bakers state on the label. I always recommend a single type of kibble where there is no selctive feeding and owners can gauge what the dog eats by amount not by the kibble types the dog is leaving behind. As always, ask your good local independant pet shop and if they are any good you will get a wealth of recommendations.