I have been umming and aahhing about a complete switch to raw feeding for the last 18 months or so but the cost factor is stopping me.

Just as background info...one or my girls suffers from storage mite allergies, the small bitch turns her nose up at anything good for her and my boy is like me...he just has to walk past the bakery and the cakes stick to his butt! So raw is looking more and more appealing over time. They currently have millies but aren't keen and although I have spoken to the sales department - who assure me that their turn around is so quick it limits storage mites- my bitch seems to have more flare ups. I'm spending just under £100 every 5 weeks. On top of this I buy the offal packs from morrisons, sardines in oil, have eggs and cottage cheese to vary their diet. On raw I would be feeding an average of 800g per dog per day.

Can anyone recommend proper meat suppliers who deliver to the east midlands or are within collecting distance? I have rung the local abbattoirs without luck and will not feed my dogs halal meat for moral and hygiene reasons. Local butchers either do not have/sell/give away scraps, don't leave anything on the carcass or only have unsuitable bones.

I ideally want offal, bones, necks, wings, carcasses etc instead of ground mix or ready to feed packs. I don't even mind sorting through the stuff myself!

I've looked on the interweb and just ended up confusing myself and worrying over quality and content. As a supply teacher, I only get paid on days that I work so am looking at atleast 8 weeks without pay through july-september which is why cost becomes an important factor and I have to budget the dogs food along with other bills. I really don't want to compromise quality over cost.

Any help would be gratefully recieved. I may not have any hair left soon and didn't have much to start with!

Have you asked around all local butchers? We had to ask a fair few before finding one (in a market) that was more than happy to help. He has to pay to dispose of his bones, offcuts and unsold meat (that includes chicken carcasses), so was very happy to let us have it. He charges us £10 a month and that is for several large sacks. That meat feeds 12 large dogs easily. I also use one sack of complete a month for some of them so my total food bill for 12 large dogs is £25 a month. For the toydogs and cats I order from Natures Menu, it worked out half price to what I fed before, but that is still way more expensive than feeding the large dogs. Roughly £250 a month to feed 40 cats and 7 Papillons.

Some raw foods which are good quality but on the less expensive side include DAF (Durham animal feeds), Manifold Valley Meats and Bulmers. Most DAF is already balanced, some MVM is, don't think Bulmers is. Bulmers is the cheapest. It's definitely  cheaper to go a bit more DIY rather than spend out on things like nutriment or natural instinct. I order all of my Raw from Raw 2 Paw, they have different brands and are very reasonable, you would have to contact them to see if they deliver your way. Landywoods are pretty cheap too but quality isn't quite as good as those mentioned in my experience :) Try again to find a cooperative butcher, I had to go out of town to a more old fashioned type place to find one. You will save loads on bones if you can get them for cheap from a butcher.

If you Google some of these names and get in touch to see if there's a supplier local to you, most raw companies are great to deal with.

Try TPMS - based in Redditch.  I've been using them for some years and highly rate them for quality of meat and customer service.  It's been a while since I've looked at their full list (must have another look some time!) as I tend to buy the same stuff each time.  I buy turkey necks, chicken wings, and liver then combine their minced meat to get a combo that suits me.  Currently I make a minced meat mix with 2 x tripe, 2 x minced chicken, 2 x economy mince, and 4 x meat.  Each of these are packed in 450g packs.  I simply defrost, mix, and dish out til it's gone :)  I feed liver in chunks straight from the freezer and feed all poultry bones frozen too.  I'm not sure why you don't want a ground mix but you'll need to add meat as your list is far too high in bone without it. You can buy meat in chunks from Natures Menu but I find that's an expensive way to feed.

I do sling the odd egg in their direction but only because I get plenty from the farm, I do include veg peelings when I have them and add fish oil and any other supplements at the time of dishing out.  I don't feed cottage cheese or yoghurt - I think them unnecessary.

Last time I ordered, last month, prices were as follows for 450g packs: minced chicken 44p, minced green tripe 46p, economy mince 40p, minced lamb 60p, minced beef 60p.  Turkey necks are, from memory, around £4 for 2.5kg, chicken wings and carcasses are less but can't remember.

BTW I know people who feed kibble from the freezer which is supposed to kill storage mites...

I use Landywoods as my main supplier and spend around £30 a month on raw food to feed 2 dogs and sometimes 3 (when our third dog who lives with my daughter is here). A GR, WSD and a terrier cross. In addition to that I buy offal and eggs and fish to add to their food and don't routinely feed vegetables.

Some months it costs slightly less than that and other months a little bit more. I use 2lbs of food a day split between the dogs for two separate meals. I have not been able to find a butcher who has bones on offer at all but these can be bought from Landywoods too but take up quite a bit of space in the freezer. The raw mince I buy has bone in them already so I don't feed that on a day when the dogs are having fresh bones but tend to feed offal or fish on those days for their other meal.

try Berriewoods - very good service and lots of choice of raw foods

Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at all of them and price compare. Hopefully they'll deliver to me.

I'll keep trying with the butchers but I'm not hopeful. Will let you know how I get on.

TPMS were always good and are midlands based, mostly minced but chunked stuff too.

GSD owner - I was reviewing my figures to see how much my TPMS mince mix costs to feed my dogs.  I calculated yours too, based on feeding 800g per dog per day = 90p per dog per day (£1.80).  Your current food is costing you £2.38, more if you add all your extras...

Albion are also good. You need a big freezer though - but that goes for any kind of raw feeding.
I feel blessed as I have a local place that does their own minced chicken carcass for 45p/lb [they process poultry for local restaurants etc] so fresh it sometimes isn't yet frozen when I pick it up. They will also do bulk orders to customer's specifications, e.g. certain percent mince, home grown veg and offal, all from their own farm.  They have also recently started getting in full tripe and mincing it. And lovely customer service to boot.

Thanks dogs a babe, that was going to be my next question.

On millies, they need an average of 400g daily - the pup a little more. But I need to add 1/2 a tin of butchers tripe to keep them interested so thats a total of 1.6kg and 4 tins every day.  Or 2 tins on the days I add sardines in oil so its working out quite a bit more before adding morrisons offal, than if I go raw.

So far I've had a good look at bulmers and as they are in melton, are only 20mins away! Added to this, if I go on market day I can kill 2 birds with one stone and pick up rabbit/venison etc at the same time.

I will still be looking at the others though as the quality will outweigh the convenience.

Thanks again guys. I love this forum. My breed specific one isn't anything compared to the wealth of advice and genuine interest to help here. I have been a member there for years and never posted. I hope every newbie is as lucky as me to have such invaluable support.

Great that Bulmers are so near :) sounds like a good plan. I have some Bulmers at the mo, it's quite good stuff. I can post a pic if you want to know how the quality looks or how it'll store.

Oooohh yes please tectona - that would really help

I use Manifold Valley.  They seem to deliver all over the country.

Bulmers Chicken: http://i62.tinypic.com/2gwxgf9.jpg
Bulmers Beef: http://i60.tinypic.com/f1h3c9.jpg
Bulmers Chicken and Tripe (Right) DAF Chicken and Tripe (Left)- looks pretty identical: http://i61.tinypic.com/11ictj4.jpg
MVM: http://i62.tinypic.com/1snpr9.jpg
A load of different stuff piled into my freezer: http://i61.tinypic.com/x0situ.jpg

I'll take a few packs of Bulmers out for tomorrow so you can see it defrosted.

Thanks tectona, the pictures have really helped.

I'm going to work out price per kg/100g to see how they work out. I was really impressed by the diversity daf offer too.

Unfortunately albion and tpms don't have prices available so have requested them from the later and will wait for albion to update their site.

I also need to work out and factor in delivery charges...

Chicken: http://i60.tinypic.com/sxnn6f.jpg
Beef: http://i59.tinypic.com/2mg79e0.jpg
Chicken and Tripe: http://i61.tinypic.com/mhsvww.jpg

I wasn't that impressed with Albion to be honest, but no experience with TPMS and they seem good value! Most of what I feed is DAF.

I have been using Albion for years and it suits mine very well and a good price. I find round here the butchers cant supply with variety and at a good enough price.

Ok, I ordered some daf and bulmers.

I think I prefer the quality of bulmers but the choice at daf. I will try tpms and mv next but in the end I think it might be daf for their variety. I don't think I will try berriewoods due to lack of variety and price and albion still don't have orices next to the item on the site but may try them later.

I went to a farmers market yesterday and got the number for a local (ish) butcher who may be able to help me but will need to visit him personally to confirm. The chap on the stall was very helpful but couldn't confirm. The butcher is also the farmer so I'd really love for that to work out. Will keep you posted.

Thanks for the help guys.

Yes I don't know why they haven't put there price back. If you ring and speak to Katherine she will email you a copy. I must ask them next time I soeak to them
Although I get my main order from Albion I do top up with things like game from any sources I can find that cheap enough. Unfortunately a lot of the smaller suppliers don't deliver to me in Croydon or if they do the delivery is so high it doesn't make it worthwhile

I find delivery and cost of, a problem too. Sometimes the offers and products are let down by cost of delivery etc and also how/when they deliver. Bulmers is great because they allow collection and are close enough for me to do this.

I will chase up albion and see what happens...

I would add I buy £250 at a time which makes it cheaper that's 1gsd 1fcr and a tiny pomx for about 3months. Another point is that I like chunks and carcasses rather than all mince and that is an extra thing to find