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 $21.99 for 5 pounds
Dawn dish soap $2.75 for 15.5 oz from the Dollar Store
2 Ice cube trays for $5.97
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 whisk 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 52 cents
1 Tbsp Dawn dish soap - about 1/2 oz About 9 cents
The total cost for the pods was $1.26, and that comes to 9 cents per pod. Far cheaper than what you can buy in the store for 14 dishwasher pods.
The cheapest dishwasher pods I found were the Amazon Basics pods for 20 cents per pod.
We also like that the dishwasher pods are food grade outside of the dish detergent, and are environmentally friendly, and do not release toxins into the home.
UPDATE! I made the recipe, but with a different dish soap that I had on hand. When I started mixing everything, the ingredients began to react chemically. It was the typical acid/base reaction you would expect when you add vinegar to baking soda. The dish pod mixture began to fluff up with carbon dioxide from the reaction!! I put the mixture into the ice tray and it continued to fluff up. Right now it is drying, along with another batch I made with the Dawn dish soap. I can only think that the Ajax dish soap had some extra water in it as an ingredient, whereas the Dawn did not have the extra water to trigger a reaction.
I hope you find this helpful. Have Fun Prepping!
Ruth and Scott
PS I may use two of the fluffy pods in my dishwasher, as their efficacy may be reduced.
PPS.. I'm an Amazon Associate. You will find links on my blog posts, but there is no obligation to purchase anything from my links. If you do, I get a (very) small commission. Thanks in advance.
I'm just glad you are here!
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