What is a good substitute for dishwasher detergent?

Answer by  kixon66 (14)

What I've been using the past two years or so is: Dispenser cup half full with baking soda and about a tablespoon of dawn liquid dishashing soap ~ works MUCH better than ANY box you buy off the shelves at about 1/20th the cost!

Answer by  GilFinn (2065)

You really don't need detergent to get dishes clean in your dishwasher. If you have pre-rinsed dishes, you can add three tablespoons of baking soda to the soap dispenser.

Answer by  bubbyboy (9929)

Just a tiny bit of regular dish detergent will do the trick. Put the detergent in the regular holder inside dishwasher. Be extremely careful because just a little too much and you will have a mess.Another trick is to use baking soda. This will clean and leave everything in washer smelling sweet.

Answer by  Liz59 (10966)

A good substitute may be vinegar. It can be used for essentially anything. But I recommend you purchase your dishwasher detergent asap.

Answer by  champaign9497 (11977)

You can try laundry detergent whatever you do, do not use regular dish soap you will have soap everywhere use just a tiny amount of laundry soap though liquid.

Answer by  Marybeth (841)

You can put in 2 to 3 drops of regular diswashing liquid, along with one cup of vinegar. Do not put in anymore soap then that or it will over flow and run out of the machine.

Answer by  Teenmom (298)

You can substitute baking soda for dishwasher detergent if you are stuck. In addition to getting your dishes clean, it also provides a deep clean for your dishwasher, and will get rid of stains. Under no circumstances should you ever use regular dishwashing liquid, as this will suds up and cause no end of problems.

Answer by  Anonymous

handwashing ; )

Answer by  dumpnrun77 (276)

The only suggestion for this i can come up with would be to use just a drop or two of regular dish detergent and mix about a half cup of baking soda with it.

Answer by  noey1958 (1405)

You could fill the little cup with a piece of bar soap. Some people save the soap chips to use for their dishes, The purer the better.

Answer by  shastie (1601)

You can use laundrey detergent but be careful about how much you put in. It will do a good job cleaning but put about half the amount you would of dishwasher detergent because it will sud up a lot more.

Answer by  Phyllis843 (141)

You can just use bleach. It will sanitize and clean everything. You could also use some vinegar, or baking soda, but don't mix any of these. Avoid anything that will foam, like liquid dishwashing soap, because it will make your dishwasher overflow.

Answer by  melissaweiss (71)

Bleach works well in a dishwasher, is the dishwasher is compatible with bleach. Also no soap is needed if you wash dishes with very hot water.

Answer by  Anonymous

I'm going to check out using borax, it has so many uses - maybe it would work efficiently here since it works great in the laundry.

Answer by  hazel (7)

If you're out of dishwasher detergent, a good alternative would be using some liquid Dawn dish soap. Rather than putting it in the normal detergent holder, squirt some over the dishes so that the hot water will be able to reach it right away.

Answer by  Anonymous

Remember Cascade 2-in-1 tablets has Dawn dishwashing detergent in them along with Cascade powder, so I am quite sure it is okay to put a very small amount of liquid det in with baking soda or Borax.