WE’RE all looking for ways to save as household bills and the prices of everyday goods go up.
You can cut your weekly shopping bill by swapping branded products for supermarket own-brand versions – but can you keep the same quality?
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We’ve tested everyday products from all the major supermarkets for you to find out which ones are the closest to the branded version and the best value for money.
Today, our Squeeze Team looks at the own-brand washing up liquids sold at the major supermarkets – we compared them with Fairy Liquid to see how they measure up.
To compare the products, we took 5ml of each type of washing up liquid and used it to fill a washing up bowl with hot water to see how bubbly it was.
We then tested how well the liquid cut through grease by washing a dish coated in 2.5ml of cooking oil.
We gave each liquid a score out of ten for effectiveness – taking into account how many bubbles it made, how long the bubbles lasted and whether the greasy dish came out clean.
Finally, we looked at how much you got for your money and gave a score out of five.
Here’s how the washing up liquids scored out of 15 overall.
The winner: Aldi Magnum washing up liquid
- 42p for 500ml
- Price per 100ml, 8p
Aldi’s Magnum version has won awards and we could see why.
It smelt just like Fairy, was a thick liquid and made lots of long-lasting bubbles.
In fact, the more we washed, the more bubbles seemed to come. Our greasy dish came out clean straight away.
At just 8p per 100ml, this was excellent value for money.
- Effectiveness = 8/10
- Value = 5/5
- Total score = 13/15
Fairy Liquid
- £1 for 433ml
- Price per 100ml, 23p
Using 5ml of Fairy Liquid in our washing bowl made loads and loads of bubbles – we could easily have used half as much.
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It had a lovely fresh smell and our greasy dish was cleaned in one wipe.
But at 23p per 100ml, Fairy is nearly double the price of the most costly supermarket product – and three times the price of the cheapest versions sold at Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.
- Effectiveness = 9/10
- Value = 3/5
- Total score = 12/15
Tesco washing up liquid
- 38p for 450ml
- Price per 100ml, 8p
The Tesco version made fewer bubbles compared with Fairy and they began to disappear much more quickly – but the greasy dish came out clean with very little scrubbing.
At just 8p per 100ml, this was the joint cheapest washing up liquid we tested, so swapping to this product would be an easy way to save without missing out on quality.
- Effectiveness = 7/10
- Value = 5/5
- Total score = 12/15
Lidl Wyx washing up liquid
- 42p for 500ml
- Price per 100ml, 8p
While the Lidl product smelled just like Fairy Liquid, it was very thin and didn’t produce many bubbles.
It seemed to clean our greasy dish quickly, but you may need to keep topping up the bowl with more to tackle a whole load of washing up.
- Effectiveness = 6/10
- Value = 4/5
- Total score = 10/15
Sainsbury’s washing up liquid
- 55p for 450ml
- Price per 100ml, 12p
The washing up liquid from Sainsbury’s appeared quite thick and made a decent bowl of bubbles which washed our greasy dish effectively.
It did have quite a strong chemical smell though. At 12p per 100ml, this was the most expensive supermarket own-brand product we tested – but it was still nearly half the price of Fairy.
- Effectiveness = 6/10
- Value = 3/5
- Total score = 9/15
Morrisons washing up liquid
- 45p for 450ml
- Price per 100ml, 10p
Morrisons’ version had a lovely fresh smell like apples but unfortunately was one of the least bubbly liquids we tried.
We had to wash the greasy dish several times to get it clean.
- Effectiveness = 5/10
- Value = 3/5
- Total score = 8/15
Asda washing up liquid
- 50p for 500ml
- Price per 100ml, 10p
Asda’s version had an unpleasant chemical smell – a bit like toilet cleaner.
The liquid felt quite thin in consistency and the bubbles disappeared quickly.
We had to wash our greasy dish several times before it came clean. It didn’t score well for value for money as you would need to use a lot of it.
- Effectiveness = 4/10
- Value = 3/5
- Total score = 7/15
And washing up liquid isn’t the only thing we’ve tested.
We tried ready salted crisps from different shops, and a budget brand was better than Walkers.
We reveal when Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Sainsbury’s start reducing prices.
And the UK’s cheapest supermarket revealed with basket of 33 items compared.
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