Best laundry detergent and/or additive for food and oil stains?

[niclonnic]

I am trying to find a better solution for removing food, grease and oil stains from certain, heavily soiled articles of clothing. This includes kitchen towels, as well as my chef coat and aprons from work (dishwasher). Currently, I use All Free & Clear Plus+ combined with OxiClean powder in my GE UltraFresh FL. There are also times where, instead of OxiClean, I pour a tablespoon of dish soap onto a rag and toss it in the washer to serve as a degreaser (thanks, TikTok). But last time I used that, the dish soap left a residue in the machine; running a rinse and spin cycle afterward produces quite a bit of suds, and it's a bit tough to remove it all. This takes a few more rinse and spin cycles.

Okay, now for the reason I want to wean myself off of OxiClean. Its performance is rather unimpressive when used on kitchen towels; one particularly greasy stain was not fully removed, even after being washed in hot water. Most other food stains come out just fine. Apparently, this powder requires very hot water in order to decently remove stains. The GE's "hot" setting does NOT get the water hot enough, despite running hot water from a bathroom faucet to prime our tankless water heater. I know there's an "extra hot" setting, but it logically uses more energy and extended wash times.

So I've been looking at alternatives to OxiClean, but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the vast selection out there in the laundry universe. After lots of research, I've tentatively settled on Tide Ultra Oxi Liquid. It's supposed to be highly rated at getting out tough, set-in stains. I also thought about using Lestoil as an additive, but apparently, that stuff smells like pure gasoline.

What are some good recommendations for my situation? This can include detergent, as well as additives.

 

[ea56]

One word, Ariel! Get yourself a bag of Ariel Powdered Laundry detergent and give it a try. I’ve been using it for almost a year now and I’ve never found another modern detergent that removes oil and grease stains better! I just did the laundry this morning, two very large loads and there were several items that had stains from cooking oil and other oily/greasy stains and I did NO pretreating. I just threw them in my BOL Roper RTW4516FW2 and pressed start. The whites were washed in hot and the colors in warm and each and every item came out spotless. Plus this detergent costs way less that Tide or Persil. Give it a try you won’t be disappointed.

Eddie

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJMLQ7SW

 

[qsd-dan]

Tide Professional blows everything out of the water. For the most part, it's available online only. Couple this with oxygen bleach with a minimum of 140F temps and you'll have a winning combination.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTX3QP45

 

[circlew]

You might want to try Grease Relief, which I have used, or perhaps Permatex Fast Orange Grease-X detergent, though I've not tried it. It's made for Mechanic's clothes, so would probably work well.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Definitely a liquid with Lipase if possible. Though, a lot of things are better than newer versions of All.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Aerosol Shout has dry cleaning fluid in it. It really does a number on grease and does not promote sudsing if that is is an issue for you. O buy it online.

 

[phillymatt53]

There are several good products for pre-treating stains.
Some are sprays, others are brush-on types. (Shout, Spray N Wash, etc.)
take your pick.

 

[niclonnic]

All of these options sound promising. Honestly, I'm leaning towards Ariel powder. I gave Tide Professional some thought, but it sounds a bit too heavy duty for my needs. In my household, we only use store-bought detergents, so I think Tide Pro is expensive and overkill. If it were on sale, I might give it a shot. Grease-X also sounds excessive, since no one in my family is an auto mechanic.

As for pre-treating sprays, I do own a bottle of Spray 'n Wash, but I don't use it all that often. I only pre-treat stains on my normal laundry every once in a while.

Finally, it's hard to find detergents with lipase, since I found out that P&G removed it from Tide products about a year or two ago. However, I came across Biz powder. It's an additive that DOES contain lipase, and the box boldly claims, "proven to beat Oxi Clean on tough stains like grass, sweat and chocolate!" What do you think?

https://a.co/d/dhAnTPU

 

[vacerator]

We use the oxy clean gel stick and Lestoil for stuborn oil stains. Just a dab or two. You don't want the strong smell to linger after laundering.

 

[angus]

First of all, Oxi Clean, while in my opinion, is useful on occasion, it is NOT a degreaser so you are wasting your money using it to remove greasy, oily stains from your laundry. Hot water is generally better for greasy soils, regardless of what everyone says about low temp washing. Also, a stain stick and/or a little Lestoil will usually do the trick. Liquid dish detergent and front loading washers do not mix - way too foamy, even in small amounts and that trick never worked for me (I use a Speed Queen traditional top loader so sudsing is less of an issue). Second, All is an OK performer at best and if your laundry is not that "stain prone", you will have decent results. However, it just isn't that strong a performer on specific stains, regardless of its label claims. I can't speak specifically to the effectiveness of store brands. Some are better than others, but are they as effective as the top rated branded products? You might have to bite the bullet and invest in some Persil liquid or Tide for those particular problem loads. To save some coin, you can continue to use All for the less stained/soiled items. Just my opinion.

 

[vacerator]

Good minor oily food type stain removal with Persil oxy and steam cycle. I'm one to dab water on my shirt as soon as I spill food on it.

 

[rinso]

Even my Tide local dry cleaners was unable to get out cooking oil stains or salad (olive) oil stains from my knitted shirts. I discovered that pre-treating the stains with Dawn Powerwash spray just before I toss it in the washer works well and doesn't generate a lot of suds, even in my soft water. I did my usual "What the hell!? I might as well try anything." approach.

 

[jrap330]

What a mechanic posted online (Quora) and it worked for a 20 year old oil stain from exhaust of a leaf blower is: Hot water, rub Dawn dish detergent into stain and in wash water add Dawn, Tide and your dishwasher pod detergent.

 

[phillymatt53]

I've used Dawn dish detergent on occasion rubbed a bit onto a stain, let it sit for a while to let it break down the stain, then tossed it into the washer.
It seemed to work pretty well.

 

[ea56]

I’m old enough to remember when powdered detergents did it all! You didn’t need to “pre treat” oil and grease stains, mud or grass stains. Blood stains have always required pretreating with COLD water to flush out the proteins from the fibers before washing so as to not set them. But for the most part we put the powdered detergent in our washing machines, filled them with water and let em’ do their job! We didn’t need “fragrence” additives to get out odors, the GD DETERGENT did this!

This is why I’ve been so pleased with powdered Ariel, because it performs like a laundry detergent is supposed to, without having to pretreat stains and use additional additives, save either LCB or Color Safe bleach for whites.

Eddie

 

[sfdoug100]

I am trying to find a better solution for removing food, grease and oil stains from certain, heavily soiled articles of clothing. This includes kitchen towels, as well as my chef coat and aprons from work (dishwasher). Currently, I use All Free & Clear Plus+ combined with OxiClean powder in my GE UltraFresh FL. There are also times where, instead of OxiClean, I pour a tablespoon of dish soap onto a rag and toss it in the washer to serve as a degreaser (thanks, TikTok). But last time I used that, the dish soap left a residue in the machine; running a rinse and spin cycle afterward produces quite a bit of suds, and it's a bit tough to remove it all. This takes a few more rinse and spin cycles.

Okay, now for the reason I want to wean myself off of OxiClean. Its performance is rather unimpressive when used on kitchen towels; one particularly greasy stain was not fully removed, even after being washed in hot water. Most other food stains come out just fine. Apparently, this powder requires very hot water in order to decently remove stains. The GE's "hot" setting does NOT get the water hot enough, despite running hot water from a bathroom faucet to prime our tankless water heater. I know there's an "extra hot" setting, but it logically uses more energy and extended wash times.

So I've been looking at alternatives to OxiClean, but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the vast selection out there in the laundry universe. After lots of research, I've tentatively settled on Tide Ultra Oxi Liquid. It's supposed to be highly rated at getting out tough, set-in stains. I also thought about using Lestoil as an additive, but apparently, that stuff smells like pure gasoline.

What are some good recommendations for my situation? This can include detergent, as well as additives.

It is too bad they stopped making All Powder, Circa 1974-1983. It was absolutely the very best for removing oily stains. These days I'm adding a tablespoon of TSP: Trisodium Phosphate, and a bit of borax to my greasy kitchen things. I hope that you are able to buy TSP ... Good luck

 

[rinso]

I’m old enough to remember when powdered detergents did it all! You didn’t need to “pre treat” oil and grease stains, mud or grass stains. Blood stains have always required pretreating with COLD water to flush out the proteins from the fibers before washing so as to not set them. But for the most part we put the powdered detergent in our washing machines, filled them with water and let em’ do their job! We didn’t need “fragrence” additives to get out odors, the GD DETERGENT did this!

This is why I’ve been so pleased with powdered Ariel, because it performs like a laundry detergent is supposed to, without having to pretreat stains and use additional additives, save either LCB or Color Safe bleach for whites.

Eddie

I'd love to see how Ariel works for this task, but it doesn't seem to be available in the semi-rural area in which I live. Maybe after indoor plumbing and electricity become available here, stores will start stocking Ariel.

 

[ea56]

Eugene,
I order my Ariel from either Target or Walmart and have it delivered since they don’t carry it in my local Target. That big bag lasts us 4 to 5 months and it runs between $14 to $15. Before I was buying a large jug of Tide Ultra Heavy Duty about every 5 weeks at $15.99 a pop! That’s a substantial savings.

Eddie

 

[qsd-dan]

Grease-X also sounds excessive, since no one in my family is an auto mechanic.

I am trying to find a better solution for removing food, grease and oil stains from certain, heavily soiled articles of clothing.