We had a post in the group about making a replacement for the expensive dishwasher tabs. It was a good idea and would save money. We all need to save money to either get out of debt or to be able to purchase our preps. But would it work? I wanted to find out for myself.
First, I acquired the ingredients:
Baking Soda $9:95 for 6 pounds
Citric Acid $19.99 for 5 pounds
Dawn dish soap $2.75 for 15.5 oz from the Dollar Store
These products are what we used and are linked so you can compare prices.
Here is the recipe:
1 cup Baking Soda - 6.5 oz
1/4 cup Citric Acid - 1.9 oz
1 Tbsp. Dawn Dish Soap - about a half an ounce
I added everything to a steel bowl.
Mix Thoroughly. You want to make sure all ingredients are evenly distributed.
I used a wisk to mix everything.
When it was mixed, you could press it together and it would hold together loosely.
Press into ice cube tray - one that makes smaller ice cubes. It will make about 12 dishwasher pods.
Let them rest and bind up for 4 hours.
Use in your dishwasher like you would one of the dishwasher pods.
I ran a load of dishes with the homemade pod. The dishes were clean outside of a spatula that had some cheese stuck on it. There was no artifical smell, and the dishwasher looked clean inside. I'm happy with it and I don't mind making sure the spatula gets a scrub before it goes in the wash. This is a worthwhile project.
Here is the cost breakdown:
I cup baking soda - 6.5 oz About 65 cents
1/4 cup citric acide - 1.9 oz About 48 cents
1 Tbsp Dawn dish soap - about 1/2 oz About 9 cents
The total cost for the pods was $1.22, and that comes to 10.1 cents per pod. Far cheaper than what you can buy in the store for 12 dishwasher pods.
The cheapest dishwasher pods I found were the Amazon Basics pods for 18 cents per pod.
We also like that the dishwasher pods are food grade outside of the dish detergent, and are envionmentally friendly, and do not release toxins into the home.
I hope you find this helpful. There are Amazon Associates links on the page, but there is no obligation to purchase anything. Have Fun Prepping!
Ruth and Scott
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