A HOUSEHOLD staple for many of us, dishwasher tablets promise to take the hard work out of washing dirty dishes.
Even some of the names – Platinum, Magnum and Powerball – sound powerful and they should be doing the heavy lifting when it comes to cleaning dirty pots and pans.
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But as brilliant as a dishwasher is at saving you time at the kitchen, these little tablets are a pricey addition to your shopping bill.
One pack of Fairy Platinum tablets will set you back £20. Own brands are cheaper, but do they get the job done?
To help you choose a cheaper alternative, consumer writer Lynsey Hope put supermarket brands to the test against market leaders Fairy and Finish.
Here’s what happened:
Fairy Platinum All in One
- £20 for 51
- 39.2p each
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Super pricey but where these Fairy tablets really stood out was on glassware.
They left wine glasses and tumblers sparkling clean with no clouding. What they weren’t so good with was pasta and sticky Weetabix which proved more of a challenge to get off.
I was disappointed with the results with food given the price.
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They were very expensive compared to all the others we tried.
- EFFICIENCY: 6/10
- VALUE: 6/10
- OVERALL RATING: 6/10
Finish Powerball Ultimate All in 1
- £10 for 39
- 25.6p per wash
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A decent cleaning effort, especially on glasses and cutlery, but some plates needed a wipe off afterwards.
To be honest, for the price, I expected better.
- EFFICIENCY: 7/10
- VALUE: 6/10
- OVERALL RATING: 7/10
Aldi Magnum All in One Dishwasher Tablets
- £3.09 for 40
- 7.7p per wash
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I got great results form these budget tablets, which work out just under 8p a wash.
They removed tough stains and lifted off grease efficiently.
There were a few marks left on glasses and Tupperware but given the price, I can’t complain too much about having to give them a quick wipe off afterwards.
Overall they did a great job for a great price.
- EFFICIENCY: 8/10
- VALUE: 9/10
- OVERALL RATING: 9/10
Tesco All-in-One Dishwasher Tablets
- £3.09 for 40
- 7.7p per wash
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I found these Tesco tablets worked well but they definitely performed better on the longer programmes.
On shorter cycles, some mugs had a few stains remaining and a Pyrex dish still had a bit of pasta sauce on it that had to be cleaned off.
But on the whole they did a great job. A great budget option for lighter cycles.
- EFFICIENCY: 9/10
- VALUE: 10/10
- OVERALL RATING: 9/10
Ocado All in One Lemon Dishwasher Tablets
- £8.50 for 90
- 9.4p per wash
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Ocado’s tablets were great value at just 9.4p per wash and I loved the bigger pack, which a thought it contained 90 tablets, didn’t take up much room in the cupboard under the sink either.
They did a great job too, even on eco and shorter cycles, successfully getting rid of burnt on egg and beans.
Glasses perhaps came up cleaner with others but on the whole I was very happy.
- EFFICIENCY: 8/10
- VALUE: 9/10
- OVERALL RATING: 8/10
Lidl W5 Platinum Dishwasher Capsules
- £3.99 for 37
- 10.7p each
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Stick these in your machine blindfolded and you’d think you were using fancy Fairy or Finish.
They did a great job and cost less than 11p per wash.
They successfully managed to get rid of some sticky baked beans and lipstick, although there were a few lipstick marks left on a glass.”
- EFFICIENCY: 7/10
- VALUE: 8/10
- OVERALL RATING: 7/10
Sainsbury’s Ultimate All In One Dishwasher Tablets
- £6 for 50
- 12p per wash
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Loved these 12p a go tablets, which I thought did an outstanding job of getting rid of sticky pasta sauce from dirty dishes and glassware.
Cutlery came out sparkling clean.
Whilst not the cheapest supermarket offering, I thought they were good value overall and barely anything came out dirty afterwards.
A savvy switch to make if you’re looking to save money on your weekly shopping bill.
Buy these instead of Fairy if you run a cycle every day and you’d save yourself nearly £100 a year.”
- EFFICIENCY: 9/10
- VALUE: 8/10
- OVERALL RATING: 8/10
Morrisons All in 1 Dishwasher Tablets
- £4 for 30
- 13.3p per wash
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Morrisons was one of the more expensive own brands to feature in our test, but the quality was still impressive.
My glassware came out sparkling and they did a good job on more intensive cycles too, getting rid of burnt on food from quite heavily soiled pots and pans.
Really these were as good as any pricey brand, at a fraction of the price.
- EFFICIENCY: 10/10
- VALUE: 9/10
- OVERALL RATING: 10/10
Asda All in 1 Dishwasher Tablets
- £6.50
- 10.8p per wash
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I was disappointed with these as they failed to dissolve properly during the wash, even in longer cycles.
Food residue often remained on plates and bowls even if I rinsed it off first.
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Price wise, you’d be better off going with Aldi’s tablets which were cheaper and did a better job.
- EFFICIENCY: 4/10
- VALUE: 4/10
- OVERALL RATING: 4/10
How to save money on your supermarket shop
THERE are plenty of ways to save on your grocery shop.
You can look out for yellow or red stickers on products, which show when they’ve been reduced.
If the food is fresh, you’ll have to eat it quickly or freeze it for another time.
Making a list should also save you money, as you’ll be less likely to make any rash purchases when you get to the supermarket.
Going own brand can be one easy way to save hundreds of pounds a year on your food bills too.
This means ditching “finest” or “luxury” products and instead going for “own” or value” type of lines.
Plenty of supermarkets run wonky veg and fruit schemes where you can get cheap prices if they’re misshapen or imperfect.
For example, Lidl runs its Waste Not scheme, offering boxes of 5kg of fruit and vegetables for just £1.50.
If you’re on a low income and a parent, you may be able to get up to £442 a year in Healthy Start vouchers to use at the supermarket too.
Plus, many councils offer supermarket vouchers as part of the Household Support Fund.
