Best dishwasher tablets for the money

When it comes to dishwasher tablets they all make similar promises: they’ll tackle the dirtiest of plates, remove the hardest of stains while guaranteeing the perfect shine.

Of course, not all tablets all live up to their hype. If you’ve ever had to irritably throw your egg-encrusted plates, lipstick-stained glasses and discoloured coffee mugs back into the dishwasher for a second cycle, you’ll know the importance of choosing the right dishwasher tablets.

UK consumer testing website expert reviews just published their findings on dishwasher tablets and came up with some surprising results.

All the leading name brands such as Fairy and Finish were tested alongside supermarket own-brand products to find out which one offered the biggest bang for your buck.

Each tablet was tested on a similar load of dishes at 50°C, with no pre-soaking or rinsing.

Washing by hand

You would be surprised at the number of people who have still not gone out and bought a dishwasher, preferring instead to wash their dishes by hand.

What they probably do not realize, however, is that washing by hand, you’re briefly immersing your dishes in a sink full of increasingly dirty water. A dishwasher uses pressurised jets of very hot water that combines with the chemicals in the tablets to not only wash your dishes but to ensure they are hygienic as well. You may have noticed that every bar in Spain uses a dishwasher to clean their glasses. It is not because the bar owners want to but because it is mandated by the Health and Safety Department.

Believe it or not, modern dishwashers are so energy- and water-efficient that a full dishwasher load is cheaper to run than washing the dishes by hand.

Aren’t all dishwasher tablets the same?

According to expert reviews, some tablets are better at tackling grease, while others do a great job on the glasses, but lack the resourcefulness to completely clean your baking dish of the last remnants of lasagne.

Of all the dishwasher tablets tested German low-cost supermarket chain Aldi offered the best value at £3.29 for 40 washes (8p per tablet). The bargain brand did as well as the top names and was just as good as the tablets sold by posh supermarkets such as Waitrose and M&S.

Aldi came up trumps, with no trace of egg yolk, lasagne or grease left at the end of the cycle. Indeed, everything from cutlery to china to plastic containers all came up sparkling. They did have a little trouble removing lipstick marks but were no worse than the other tablets tested.

You can buy Aldi dishwashing tablets at their new supermarket on Carrer Juan Gil Albert in Alcoy for 3.99€ which is .10€ per wash.