Advice for UK Dishwasher Users!

[jmurray01]

Yesterday I bought a box of Tesco Value dishwasher tablets, and after using 5 of them, I can tell you they work FANTASTICALLY.

Don't be put off by the plain box or the fact they only cost £1.80, they work very well, so buy them and give them a try.

 

[electron1100]

Budget Stuff

I personaly dont like strong smelling powders or conditioners, so the other week i saw in the Co-op there own budget concentrated fabric softener, i opened it up and it had a very gentle smell of old Lenor, i bought it and tried it and liked it very much no over powering scent and conditions just aswell, all for £0.53p.

Bring back 1980s Softlan I liked that a lot salty fresh smell ;-)

Gary

So yes not all budget stuff is crap

 

[jmurray01]

Co-op now have cheap softener ?

I knew about their stuff that is a lilac colour, and I like it very much.

 

[jmurray01]

The Tesco Value dishwasher tablets are getting a good test now, as I've just made and eaten lasagne (tasted GREAT by the way) and that means two dirty pans, a baking bowl which is slightly dirty, lots of spoons and cutlery caked in mince and pasta, and dirty plates of course.

I put it on the Eco wash, opposed to the super quick wash I normally use to give it a better "deep clean".

 

[jmurray01]

And the result ? Not a spot of dirt on any of the plates, pots, or cutlery I put in.

Brilliant, and for under 17p per tablet, I am very happy indeed.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I use them on occasion, however using them continually allows stains to accumulate. Particularly tea tannins on crockery and stainless-steel teaspoons.

Mum had been using them and Lidl's equivalent version for some time. Dad's mug was looking decidedly grotty, even though it gets the dishwasher cycle every day.

Switching to Finish keeps the mug brilliantly clean.

Also, do not be tempted to buy Tesco's Naturally dishwasher tablets. I bought them once and they over-foamed in my full-size Bosch, even on a greasy load.

 

[jmurray01]

I've never seen the tablets you mentioned.

Are they cheaper than Value ?

 

[nickuk]

LIDL tablets at £1.69 for 30, vs Tesco value at £1.80 for 30- a whole 11p cheaper!!

Re - your comments (Hoovermatic) about the tea stains - totally agree and used to find the same. However LIDL and Aldi now seem to have a new source for tabs and they are much better. Our mugs were looking dreadful after a half price pack of Fairy all in 1 from Co-op which I actually found surprising.....anyway, back to LIDL and over about 10 washes the mugs went back to normal Also the Fairy smelled so strong.....

The new `el cheapo' tabs which (individually) have a new blue foil wrapping as opposed to the white ones which just say `Dishwasher Tablet' seem much better at bleaching tea, and also come with a tad of citrus scent too but nothing overpowering, just pleasant.

I'm sure Finish are no1 for a reason, but I find they can overfoam and even when on offer cost double the cheap ones. For me it's el cheapo all the way! On the very odd occasion the load is really horrible, I just throw another tab in. At that price who cares!

I should add I just don't believe anything `all in 1' - have tried them all and always end up with wet dishes. So I do use salt and rinse aid too (normally from LIDL) and this method seems to work for me.

Nick

 

[optima]

Dishwasher Tablets

I only ever buy the cheapest own brand dishwasher tablets & they all perform just as good as fairy or finish. & i agree with Gary that Softlan fabric conditioner was the best & it had a unique scent all of it's own, i've often wondered why they stopped producing it. Can't remember if it was a Procter & Gamble product.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I agree with NickUK's comments about Fairy's smell being so strong. My parents used a couple of those pods and decreed afterwards that the dishes were scented.

Interesting that Tesco's cheapy tablets are so dear now compared to Lidl. Last Summer, Tesco were trying to clear the shelves of them - at 25p A BOX! (Maybe the formulation was dodgy...)

 

[rolls_rapide]

JMurray01

These are the tablets. Tesco's answer to Ecover. They are dearer than the "El Cheapos", around £3 to £4 a box.

Very foamy tablets, caused the Bosch to suds-lock. After using a couple of them, the rest went through the washing machine to clean it out.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Think I'll stick with Finish...

...but thanks for the advice anyway.

 

In my experience with cheap tablets they don't quite cut the mustard on tea stains, and often leave the racks/plastic a pale tinge of orange from food stains.  Not keen on Fairy myself, but used Finish for god knows how long - but often get it on offer so I don't pay any more than abotu 10p a tablet.  I got 180 washes of Finish from Costco the other week for £15, which works out at 8p a tablet.

 

I often have the foaming issues with the all-in-1 tablets of any brand, especially Finish, but prefer to stick to Classic unless one of the other variants is on offer.

 

Best dishwasher tablets I have ever used are the quantums, sometimes get them on offer but there is no way I can justify the full non-offer price for them!

 

Jon

 

[zanussi_lover]

ALDI Magnum All in One Tablets

I'm currently Using Magnum All in One Tablets, and Magnum Original washing up liquid by our sink.

Both of these are Which? Best buys, Even though we have a dishwasher, we dont use it all the time as we dont have enough plates and cups to go through unless we have guests round, which is quite rare.

The Magnum orignal washing up liquid is very thick, and is better than Fairy, has a pleasant smell and doesn't hurt my hands. We have had a bottle for about 6 weeks and we only use a pea size amount and we have a half a bottle left. Pretty good for 59p =]

The Magnum Tablets are very good too, leave everything sparkling. Our dishwasher is pretty old (8 years old) so the dispenser doesn't work so I put the tablet in the cutlery basket.

I miss Glist though, that was my tablet of choice for years, then they stopped doing it.

 

[jmurray01]

I bought the Lidl dishwasher tablets the other day and they work great!

The only slight issue is that they are quite chunky so the dispenser door is a struggle to close!

They clean well though.

At the moment I have an assortment of tablets in the bowl above the dishwasher:

Lidl Tablets
Tesco Value Tablets
Tesco Daisy Tablets
Co-op Lemon Tablets

I've got about 85 in all (I counted them yesterday - How sad!)

 

[jmurray01]

As for tea stains, with all the tablets I've used (listed above) I've NEVER had any obstinate tea stains - Even ones that have been sitting for days.

 

[hoovermatic]

Magnum

I am also using Aldi's Magnum All in One dishwasher tabs and I can't tell the difference from Finish Quantum. In fact, they seem to leave a great shine to everything that I hadn't noticed before. I used Lidl tabs years ago and didn't like them at all but it sounds like they are a lot better now. The Magnum washing up liquid is also superb and is very rich - the only difference between it and Fairy, apart from the price, is the fragrance. Both highly recommended!

 

[jmurray01]

Well it just occured to me, the one cheap tablet brand I haven't tried is Asda Simply Value.

I'll have to try them some time.

 

[nrones]

I had a problem with cheap tabs from here

Hi,

I had quite a wired problem with cheap tablets. They were cleaning perfectly, however I noticed that after amount of washes (near the end of 30 wash box), some metal things like grater for cheese got rusty! So we decided to use only Finish and Somat, just to be sure...

anyone had the same problem? anyone maybe know what is resolution for this problem?

Dex

 

[rolls_rapide]

I noticed that cheap tablets and Tesco's Daisy powder made aluminium pots and pans discolour: a sort of gold or bronze streakyness.

Finish on the other hand, restored the silver hue after a wash or two.

The cheap detergents are obviously lacking some kind of corrosion inhibitor.