If there’s one kitchen appliance to be grateful for it's the dishwasher.
If you’ve got a dishwasher you will certainly be glad of all those hours saved on washing and drying up, with stacking and unloading a small price to pay in comparison. However, shoppers will know that branded dishwasher tablets don’t come cheap, even in our beloved budget stores.
That’s why this week we decided to put two supermarket own brands to the test, to see how they match up to the likes of Finish and Fairy. Sainsbury’s is currently price matching Aldi on 150 own-label and branded products, plus other grocery and frozen items.
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While their dishwasher tablets aren't included in this price match, we decided to compare the two supermarket rivals, to see how their own brand dishwasher tablets performed. Here’s the results
Sainsbury's All In One Dishwasher Tablets, Lemon x30
Priced at £3 a box these are one of the cheapest dishwasher tablet options available at Sainsbury’s, with a box of Fairy All In One Original £5 for 29 tablets and Finish All In One Max Original £5.50 for 30.
First of all, I liked that the tablets come in a cardboard box, making it easier to recycle than those thick plastic pouches and bulky tubs some are stored in. The packaging was a nice bright blue colour and the box a compact size to fit easily inside my kitchen cupboard without taking up loads of space.
I used to buy branded dishwasher tablets so price wise this is certainly a saving for me - but none of that matters if something doesn’t perform well of course. Thankfully, I was really impressed with how well these worked.
I used them on a 'Quick & Clean' wash, set at 60 degrees, which takes around 90 minutes. Glassware came out sparkling, cutlery was clean with no crusty bits left on and the plates came out looking like new.
Most of the saucepans cleaned up well too, it was only if I cooked something like scrambled eggs that it didn’t quite shift every last bit, and they needed an extra scrub by hand. But if it’s saving me £2 a pack I can certainly live with that.
The only other thing I noticed was that mugs weren’t always coming out quite as gleaming as I’d like, with a few stubborn tea and coffee stains lingering in the bottom. But overall I was pleased with the performance of this budget box and I’ll be switching from now on.
Price: £3 for 30
Rating: 4/5
Where to buy: Sainsbury’s online and in store
Aldi's 'Magnum Premium' All In One Dishwasher Tablets, Lemon x37
I absolutely loathe how expensive items like dishwasher tablets and washing up tablets are, which is why I've always opted for the 'value' variety no matter what. To me, they all do the same job, and I'd happily buy a cheaper pack to lessen the blow during my weekly food shop.
I was drawn to Aldi's 'Magnum Premium' dishwasher tablets for a number of reasons. Considering they were priced at £3.99 for 37 as opposed to a whopping £8 for 37 Fairy dishwasher tablets, I was happy to fork out £3.99.
Aesthetically, I thought the dishwasher tablets looked pretty 'premium' in the packaging so I was intrigued to see how good they actually were. I popped one in my dishwasher on the 'Eco' setting at 50C for an hour to see if they lived up to promise of 'cutting through grease'.
At first, I was pretty impressed. The glasses looked clean and shiny, but when I looked a little closer, they weren't as clean as I thought. There were a few bits of watery dirt around the outside of my glasses which were very off-putting.
On top of this, an old mug of hot chocolate looked like it hadn't been washed at all, which was very disappointing. Granted, this small issue wasn't the end of the world, but it did mean I had to rewash some mugs and glasses.
The plates came out sparkling and shiny, but it was the cups and glasses that were a bit of a let down. I've always put my mugs and glasses facing downwards, but it's hard to say whether it was an issue with the tablets or positioning.
Let's just say I think I'll be sticking to my Asda All In One diswasher tablets for now until I find a better swap - priced at £2.95 for 30 tablets.
Price: £3.99 for 37
Rating: 3/5
Where to buy: Aldi online and in store
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