What is a good alternative diet to feed cats?

I am sick of feeding them the nasty carcass food that is Friskies, etc. I was reading a thread from a while ago that stated it is probably quite healthy for dogs to be fed fresh raw and slightly cooked “people food”. It is a bit harder with cats because their digestive systems are built to digest raw meat, and not to metabolize carbohydrates. Is anyone out there feeding their cats a successful alternative diet? And if so, is your cat thriving?

The only thing is I have 5 cats, so anything like raw meat is going to get very expensive very quickly!