Kitchen Cleaner Series: The Dishwasher

What's lurking on your dishes that you can't even see?! Does your food ever taste soapy? like chlorine? Is white residue plaguing your dishes? A few years ago, I answered "yes" to all of those questions, so I went looking for a solution because your dishes can actually just be clean without residue, seen or seen, left on them. A repair man recommended powdered detergent for our dishwasher, so that's what I looked for and ended up with Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Powder (link to EWG report) and plain citric acid to deal with the white residue, which is caused by hard water. When I purchased this dishwasher powder, it was the best thing available that I knew of, but I will get or make washing soda when I run out of this because it has some ingredients in it that may cause cancer.

Dealing with the white residue

If you have separate pre-wash and wash dispensers in your dishwasher and need to use citric acid, don't add the citric acid to the detergent. The citric acid works best if it's separate. I've read recommendations for putting it in the wash dispenser, but I put it in the pre-wash dispenser before and it worked. You may have to try both out and see what happens. Your dishes should sparkle again within 2-3 washes!! If the dishwasher has white build-up in it, you'll need to try a few runs without dishes and just citric acid to clean it first. Heather Dessinger's ebook DIY Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes has tips and information that thoroughly covers all of this.

We have a brand new dishwasher now, and it doesn't have a pre-wash dispenser, only a rinse. I have been adding a little citric acid with the detergent, which seems to help, but I will be trying distilled white vinegar (with an acidity level of 5% or less) for my liquid rinse instead. White vinegar has done wonders for my son's build-up on his cloth diapers, recently, so I'm sure it will help in the dishwasher!!

Don't be fooled by Lemi-Shine!! The ingredients for Lemi-Shine aren't disclosed on the label, and it's roughly four times the price of plain citric acid. For a good citric acid, which I'll be getting next time, check out this non-GMO food grade citric acid.

Pods or Gel Detergent
If the recommended detergent for your dishwasher is gel, or that's what you prefer, then check out this EWG report on the Honest Co. Dishwasher Gel (link to purchase):

 

With all the dishwasher products, I noticed "enzymes" listed, so I would just trust that a company like this with top-grade products wouldn't use bad enzymes.

For pods, the Up & Up and Kirkland Signature pods both received a "B" and have few ingredients. Seventh Generation, Nature Clean, and Nice! all scored "A" for their pods. Stay away from Finish, Cascade and Wal-Mart brand pods, though. Wal-Mart's Great Buy pods don't even have the ingredients listed on them, not even one, so we have no idea what's in them...Cascade and Finish pods all scored in the "C" and "D" range.

DIY Dishwasher Powder
As found in Heather Dessinger's ebook DIY Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes, she explains that you can easily make washing soda in the oven from baking soda!! I believe baking soda is cheaper than the washing soda I linked to above, so I will probably try it. Her book also includes several ideas for your dishwasher detergent if your dishes need more or less care.

Should I use powder, gel, or pods?
First, I would check your dishwasher's manual to see if it gives a recommendation. You probably don't have your manual, but you could easily find it online. If there's no recommendation, check with your appliance repair man to see if he has a suggestion. If you can't find an answer through either of those means, then I'd just go with preference, but powder is usually cheapest.

What kind of dishwasher soap do you use? Are you considering trying something different?