Eco-Friendly Mama: Safe product recommendations with a focus on organic and Made in USA!

This is an on-going project, but I’ve tried enough brands now to get an idea of what works for me, what absolutely doesn’t, and a few that are so-so. So I thought I’d share what is working in my dishwasher, get recommendations on what else to try, and get YOUR feedback too. What works for you, do you have hard or soft water, etc?? My machine is a Frigidaire Gallery, and important to note is I have hard well water, we do not use a water softener. So that certainly affects my results. Also, my dishwasher is full of entirely glass (plus our silverware). We use no plastic. My plates, bowls, drinking glasses, all glass, and clear glass at that. So it’s pretty easy to tell if they’re clean (or at least not filmy) or not.

I, and many of you, used Better Life Auto Dish gel and were really happy with it. Then they reformulated and added 2 preservatives I refuse to use in any product: Methylisothiazolinone and Benzisothiazolinone. True, you’re really not coming into contact with it while it’s washing your dishes, so that alleviates the exposure to humans, BUT, it is really bad for the environment as well! It lists acute aquatic toxicity as a precaution. I live on the banks of a precious river, and absolutely refuse to use any products that include it. Thankfully I had a pretty huge stash of the pre-reformulation blend, but eventually that ran out and the search for a replacement has been ongoing. And it hasn’t been fun. One of the chores for my kiddos chores is emptying the dishwasher (they alternate weeks). Many times I’d hear one of them say: Mom, when are we gonna get some good dishwasher detergent again? Some of the ones we tried were really, really bad performance wise. But the following were all ones I felt comfortable enough ingredientwise to give a try and hope for the best. A couple things I could’ve messed around with to try to get better results is adding citric acid, vinegar, or a rinse aid. In the end, I’ve settled (for now) with Ecover Zero Powder + Ecover Rinse Aid.

BEST RESULTS:

Ecover Zero Powder– I got mine from Frontier Coop with my last buying club order (I just looked though and didn’t see it listed there currently?!). I tried it solo and went through a whole box and thought it did a good job. When it was time to reorder I saw they had a rinse aid so grabbed that too, and I do think it’s doing a really good job between the 2. I’m quite happy with it!

UPDATE: SOOOOOOO FRUSTRATING BUT THIS HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED! I have a large stockpile thankfully, but in the coming months will be on the search for a replacement. Let me know what y’all are using please!

This should be pretty readily available locally to those of you who live in bigger cities. I live in the middle of nowhere so have very, very few local options. So, here’s my Amazon affiliate link if you decide to go that route, I’d appreciate you using it: Powder: https://amzn.to/48flbED   Rinse Aid: https://amzn.to/3NnhVzo

SO-SO RESULTS:

If you Care tabs- These were interesting. My friend loves them and gave me a handful. The 1^st tab actually did 3 loads, it just kept dissolving slowly. And the 1^st load actually came out pretty good, I was hopeful. But then the 2^nd & 3^rd were meh, although acceptable but again, still the 1^st tab! After the 1^st tab was used up, I tried a new tab and it did dissolve almost completely, but the results were pretty meh. I think possibly with a rinse aid like the Ecover I am now using, this would maybe be an acceptable option for me. But I’m just really not a fan of tabs, I’d rather just dump the powder in.

Seventh Generation Free & Clear powder–  Acceptable performance, but not as good as the Ecover powder. I bought this at my local grocery store when I found myself out of product at one point (very rare for me!). If I was in a pinch, I’d buy this locally again. But honestly, I’m really not a fan of Seventh Generation as a brand and prefer not to give my money to them. Was it better than several others on this list I tried in terms of performance though? Yes, it was.

DIDN’T WORK WELL FOR ME:

Biokleen Powder– It left a whiteish filmy residue on the outside of the glasses, but the inside seemed okayish. Still, everything looked absolutely terrible. I used this a few times and said NOPE!

Eco-Me Gel- The worst of all I tried, really, really bad. I gave it exactly 2 uses before I put it aside and said NOPE!

Ecover Tabs– These did a terrible job at dissolving, I really dislike tabs, they just don’t do well. Is it just my machine!? They did not perform well. I really wanted to like them, gave them several tries and kept hearing the kids say Mom, the dishes aren’t clean as they’d put them away. I gave them away to a friend.

MamaSuds– It left a film and dishes did not appear clean. However, my niece has a water softener and she says these work great for her! I love this small business, and love that she offers samples. If you want to give this and anything else she offers a try, use my referral link please. Shipping is free over $99. Since we’re on the topic of dishes, I’ll note that I LOVE her solid dish soap bar for handwashing dishes. I’ve tried several dish soap bars from other vendors, and this is by far the best, no filmy residue! www.mamasuds.com/ecofriendlymama

I mentioned MamaSuds bar for hand dishwashing. That is 1 great, safe option. What I’ve used daily for many, many years now is Poofy Organics. It has ingredients I feel 100% confident in, with no concern for aquatic toxicity, and no concern for myself in having my hands soaking in it at the same time. No, it is not cheap, but it is super concentrated. I go through just a couple bottles/year as most of my dishes are going in the dishwasher. I’ve been a Poofy Organics Guide for almost a decade now. I offer my customers a 5% rebate on all orders, all the time. If you’re brand new, you can register using my link, order, then message me for a 10% rebate on that 1^st order. Shipping is free over $70, and they have 3 sitewide sales/year. I mention this all because with a little planning, you can save a decent amount AND truly be using the very safest products out there. I’ve not seen a dish soap that compares to the ingredients in Poofy’s, and that works fantastic as well. Poofy Organics

I’d love to hear from you. What are you using?! I’m always happy to look at ingredients and give you my feedback!