Mrs Meyers Dishwasher Detergent, Dish Soap, and Room Spray {REVIEW}

The search has been long and spotty. My poor husband has endured many a “rejected” dish pile from homemade dishwasher detergents and frugal attempts. I have come to the firm belief that you cannot have a homemade dishwasher detergent unless you want to seriously pre-rinse all your dishes, which ends up questionably using a lot of extra water and time, thus expending resources from your pocketbook, environment, and personal stamina.

I don’t pre-rinse. Not one little bit. My dishwasher is full of GUNK.  (See this post if you don’t believe me!) I need a serious dishwasher detergent that is able to work with my laziness. I also want the dishwasher to be a safe place, because my daughter ADORES it. It’s the lure of the off-limits for her. The more we tell her “uh-UH!” the more she wants to wash her hands in the water droplets on the open dishwasher door. Ugh.  I cannot have toxic detergent in there. I just cannot.

Since homemade just isn’t cutting it, I decided it was time to branch out into the world of natural cleaners, spending more than I would in a grocery store, but at least keeping my kids and the good green Earth a little safer. (Did you know dishwasher detergent is one of the more toxic basic cleaners in your house?)

I approached the Mrs. Meyer’s company and asked for a sample, and they were generous enough to let me try out their product.

I received their dishwasher detergent packets, dishwashing liquid, and room freshener spray. I couldn’t wait to run the detergent through its paces (especially since I was literally OUT of Cascade and had run the DW once using the previous “acceptable” method of 3 drops of dishwashing liquid and a ½ cup of vinegar in the bottom. Lots of rejections!). I was glad the mail came quickly!

Mrs. Meyer’s Dishwasher Detergent Review

I loaded the dishwasher as usual:  totally full, nothing rinsed, (yes, not even melty cheese or egg!).

I almost cringed as I opened the dishwasher door the next morning. We’ve had so many failures! I nearly cried tears of joy when I saw…clean dishes. My heart sunk to the floor when I realized the next time I ran the dishwasher that, for a rare occasion in this house, I had used “normal” wash instead of “light”. Oh, dear. I knew it was too good to be true.

With great trepidation and trembling fingers, I ran the ol’ DW on “light wash”. Trying to keep any expectations at bay, I slowly opened the dishwasher, holding my breath… What can you say about a dishwasher detergent other than:  the dishes were clean. No food left behind. No grease. No streaks. ‘nuf said. I’m sold!

The detergent comes in little plastic packets, and you put the whole thing in your dishwasher cup without puncturing it. Come to think of it, I don’t know where the plastic goes (but right now I don’t care!). That’s probably wise for people like me who would always push the envelope and use less and less powder, right? This way the dishes are always clean, and I’m a happy girl. We’ve been using it for two weeks now without a complaint. The scent I tested is lemon verbena, which is very pleasant.

Mrs. Meyer’s Dish Soap Review

Mrs. Meyer’s sent lavender dishsoap, which is actually aromatherapeutic (read: strong!). It smells great in my opinion, but if you’re sensitive to fragrances, I’d go with their “fragrance-free” version. I’m also duly impressed with the dish soap.

The suds stayed through washing a whole night’s worth of dishes, even a nasty, oily mayo container.  I even had enough suds after washing dinner dishes to put baby’s glass in, and her bib. That’s saying something because usually, the rule is to do drinking glasses first because you expect the water to get worthless at the end. Mrs. Meyer’s dishsoap has powered through some serious piles of dishes at our house (the only drawback to lots of home-cooking-from-scratch = more dishes!).

Mrs. Meyer’s Room Spray Review

I laughed when I saw that Mrs. Meyer’s threw some room spray in my box. I’m really not a spray-the-room kind of person. I grew up with a mom who was really sensitive to fragrances, and the habit rubbed off on me. I didn’t think I’d do much with it, maybe give it as a gift, until that very night a skunk visited our neighborhood. With our windows open for summer breezes, the whole house smelled awful before we could react to close the house down.

I decided to spray some Mrs. Meyer’s lemon verbena in our bedroom, then I closed my husband in there and took off to finish off some blogging. I did notice that I could smell lemon in other rooms, so “point” to MM for being pervasive (what people want in fragrances, right? I don’t do this kind of thing!). When I walked in the bedroom after the door was closed for an hour it smelled like…skunk plus lemon verbena…which is more pleasant than you’d think! Well done on the staying power and the covering power – they never promised to eliminate odors, so the product does exactly what it should.

My Dishwasher Detergent Adventures

• Seeking a Natural Dishwasher Detergent that Isn’t a Miserable Failure
• Learn to use your dishwasher wisely
• Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Recipes
• Biokleen Dishwasher Detergent Review
• Seventh Generation Product Reviews
• Clean with Green from Floor to Ceiling