So why are dishwasher tablets so very expensive?

[WinkyWinkola]

22.9p per tablet. That's madness.

Anyone suggest any that work well but are reasonably priced, please?

[tissy]

tesco own brand 11 p per tablet

[silverfrog]

I always buy the sainsbury's cheapest ones (around 10-11p per tablet). Called something like "3 in 1" in a blue box.

they work just fine.

[zippitippitoes]

i use tesco own brand powder works fine

[fishie]

waitrose own 5 in 1 are 2 for 1 atm.

[sameagain]

Lidl - can't remember the exact price, but less than £2 for 40. is that c. 5p per tab? Never noticed any difference from the dearer ones.

[CountessDracula]

I buy asda ones, when they are on offer I get about a billion boxes

[Furball]

tesco value 5p a tablet!

[Sputnik]

Try cutting them in half. I do this, unless we've had fish or something it works fine.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

Sputnik are you in a soft water area? I often wondered about cutting them up. We are in a soft water area and I use less powder for washing clothes than a hard water area (as per the manufacturers instructions on the box) so it had occured to me that i should be able to do the same with dishwasher tabs/powder???

[mrsbabookaloo]

..to encourage you to wash up in the sink instead?

[Anna8888]

That's hugely expensive

I buy Sun tablets and they work out at 16 Euro centimes each and just over 10 centimes on special offer (which I often get).

[platypussy]

Dh's friend (a single dad) dosent use tablets at all. He reckons the heat of the water cleans things adequately.

[bobblehat]

I've found most supermarket own brand ones are fine, but did get some lidl ones (as recomended by which) and find I often have to put it on twice to get things clean.

[somersetmum]

mrsbabookaloo Why would we want to wash up in a sink? Dishwashers are more environmentally friendly, don't you know? They use such little water, this compensates for the electricity used, apparently.

[mrsshackleton]

I keep posting this, don't know why they are so expensive but ime cheap ones don't work
We had massive problems with our dishwasher when we bought it, nothing was clean and the engineer we called out told me to use Finish tablets not own brand
We did and lo our dishes did sparkle!
Everytime we use something else, because no Finish is available, 'tis a disaster and we have to do the whole wash again. someone said on another thread this is because Finish have more enzymes
I promise I don't work for Finish. am a total tightwad and hate forking out for the brand name but have no choice
We live in a very hard water area though. In soft water it's completely different
Gosh, aren't I a fascinating person to write such a long post on this?

[Sputnik]

Flibbertygibbet, we are actually in a hard water area, and I use ecover tabs. If the dishwasher salt levels are ok then everything is fine.

I also use half the recommended detergent in the washing machine no problem. I think they exaggerate so you buy more.

Wandering off topic here a bit, but we recently got one of these to deal with hard water, and it does seem to make a difference.

[mrsshackleton]

ooh flibberty I might get one, as we've tried ecover and its been a disaster. And that's when it's full of salt. we must live in the hardest water area on the planet

[WinkyWinkola]

I bought Asda's own today and they're rubbish. I live in a hard water area too. Maybe that's why.

[Furball]

winky - do you use dishwasher salt as that softens the water, it should be used even with so called 'include salt' tablets.

[FourArms]

Fairy tablets are BOGOF in Morrisons at the moment. They work at out 11p a tablet (or pouch whatever they're called!) that way. My lovely MIL had also picked me up 4 £1 off coupons for Fairy tabs from somewhere, so I bought 4 bags - enough in my cupboard for 6 months now.

[mishymoo]

I use Lidl's W5 tablets and they work fine! We are in a fairly soft water area though!

[mrsshackleton]

that's the other thing the dishwasher engineer told me don't use four in ones they're rubbish and are a big marketing con