DIY Natural dish washing detergent

I am a Mama trying to Go Natural.

I am by no means a perfect Mama & I fail (a lot) at the whole “going natural” thing.

One area that has been weighing on my mind lately is “the washing of our dishes” you see I am kind of addicted (yes, I said addicted!) to my bright green store brought (very, very un-natural) dish washing liquid.

It bubbles, it froths, it smells so clean, it cuts through grease & leaves my dishes gleaming. But it is made from ingredients that are known endocrine disruptors & possible carcinogens.

And we are eating & drinking it’s residue off our cups, plates & cutlery. Well no more!!

After much research & trialling several different home made detergent variations I have found our new “more natural” way to wash the dishes.

Does it smell as good as my store brought dishwashing liquid – YES. Does it cut through grease the same – NO. Does it froth & bubble the same – Sadly NO.

BUT, although it takes a little more effort to wash the dishes it is a small price to pay for the health of my family.

So my addiction to the lovely bright green detergent has been broken.

Now I know a lot of recipes that are floating around the internet call for washing soda & borax in them & seemingly these products make for nice, clean shiny dishes. But on the side of my packet of electric washing soda it says “wear gloves when using”. Now  I don’t wear gloves when washing our dishes nor when eating off them!. I think that any product that calls for the usage of gloves should not be ingested in any form – that is just my personal opinion. I know that many claim that borax is fine to use, but the Environmental Working Group claim that it is an endocrine disruptor amongst other nasty things, so I just don’t feel 100% comfortable using it. If I am going to be ok with using a hormone disrupting product- I will stick with my bright green dish washing liquid!

So my dish washing powder does not use either borax or washing soda & as a result may not work as good as other recipes – but it is healthier & that is the object of the exercise after all.

Dish Washing Powder a’la Mama Going Natural

• 1 Plain bar of  Soap (I use sunlight soap here in Australia, I hear it is on a par with Dr Bronners)
• 2/3 cup Bicarb soda
• 3 Tablespoons Salt
• 20 drops Eucalyptus oil
• 10 drops Lemon oil

I have a thermomix style machine that just eats bars of soap. So I place all the ingredients in my thermomix & blend for 30seconds on power 10 & viola you have yummy smelling dish washing detergent, that is the consistency of laundry powder. Keep it in airtight sealed jar & try not to introduce any moisture to it or you will end up with damp, clumpy soap mush.

This soap powder can be made in any blender or food processor (you just might want to pre-chop your soap bar) or at a pinch you could grate your soap bar & mix in with the other ingredients, I just don’t think it will melt into the water the same.

How to Use

I am lucky to live in a home with a double sink so I fill one sink with hot water & 1 teaspoon of our dishwashing powder – to wash the dishes in & the other with some water with a dash of white vinegar – to rinse my clean dishes in. I find this helps to remove that greasy feel that you get from using natural soap. If I have a burnt pot (who me 😉 ) then I add 1/2 a teaspoon of powder direct to the pot & scour it to get it clean. If there are quite a few dishes to wash sometimes I have to let the washing water out & re-fill the sink, so that there is enough soap power to get them all clean.

How do you wash your dishes, what are your green cleaning recipes, I would love to hear them.

Our Favourite Mayonnaise variations

Mayonnaise is a staple in our house, like flour & sugar are in others. We use it on everything & I do mean everything.

We even dip our chips in it, as evidenced below – don’t knock it till you have tried it. Crunchy chips & creamy mayonnaise……..yum!

We make our own Mayonnaise using my homemade mayo recipe with 100% pure cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. While it doesn’t taste too great, it is much better for you than using vegetable oils which are potentially damaging to your health.

So while our Mayo is healthy it does have a very distinct olive oil flavour – nothing like the creamy sweet artificial stuff you buy from the supermarket. Coming up with unique & flavoursome ways to hide the tart almost spicy flavour of the olive oil so that “Miss Two” will eat my Mayo is a constant battle but the below Mayo variations meet with her approval & mine!

Adding honey to Mayo may seem a little strange but it helps to take the edge off the spiciness of the olive oil & make the Mayo smoother & less sharp – great for little people’s palates.

Honey Dijonnaise a’la Mama Going Natural

• half a batch of my homemade mayo recipe
• 2 T honey
• 3 T Dijon Mustard

Take your plain Mayo & blend in the honey & mustard to taste.

Curry Mayonnaise a’la Mama Going Natural

• half a batch of my homemade mayo recipe
• 1 T curry powder
• 1 T honey
• 1 t garam marsala (optional)

Take your plain Mayo & blend in all of the above to taste.

Now go make a batch of chips & try Mayo on your chips – you just might like it 🙂