Cascade Platinum Plus: A Review, and Some Thoughts on Dishwashers and Dish Washing

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I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Cascade. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

For starters, in the home where I grew up, we had a petrol pressure washer, and its name was Susan.

OK, sometimes, we called it the name of one of my siblings. And every once in a while, when my siblings moved out, my Dad would pitch in and wash a sink-full or two himself. Now, make no mistake: we owned a machine called a dishwasher, but it never got used more than a couple of times. My mom used it as a place to store her pressure cooker, and other oversized pots and lids. I kid. you. not.

I think she never really trusted it. She believed it really didn’t get the dishes clean. (She may have been right about that. How well it worked, I really don’t remember, since we hardly EVER used it.)

But I’m sure she also believed that somehow, she was building character in me, by giving me that thankless task, day after day. And, she may have been. All that dishwashing experience did teach me to be picky as to whether or not a dish had really gotten clean, or not.

I do like a clean dish!

Somewhere further down the road of my sordid dishwashing past, I remember a girlfriend telling me that she had been to a women’s retreat at her church. And she mentioned that one of the speakers had said that she practiced the presence of God in the tiny mundane tasks of the day, like dishwashing. That she would say to herself as she washed a cup with soapy water, “Oh, Lord, would you wash my spirit clean on the inside, just as I am washing the inside of this cup, to cleanse it from its impurity.”

Me?

Um…not so much.

Washing dishes tends to bring out the whiner in me. But I am pretty darn thankful, (and practicing an attitude of gratitude is a spiritual discipline!) to HAVE a dishwasher of my own that I can USE, now that I’m an adult. And probably, that assists my spirit in “staying clean” in that it sometimes keeps me from grumbling about the job that never seems to end:

DISHWASHING!

It’s never done, is it? You finally get the kitchen cleaned up, and before you know it? It’s time to turn around and start it all over again. I do recognize that having a dishwasher to assist me in this chore IS a huge blessing. Living without one, at more than one stage in my life,  has made me very thankful to have one in my home that I actually use. (Love you, Mom!)

And so I’m thankful for dishwashers, except when my dishwasher leaves food or spots on my dishes. And then I have to start all over again by hand washing the ones that didn’t get clean when going through the machine. DON’T YOU JUST HATE THAT? That can lead a poor struggler right back down the Grumbling Road again, because you can end up having  to re-do the job that the machine was designed to do.

Recently, I was sent a few samples of Cascade’s Platinum Pacs to try. I was actually quite pleased by their performance in my dishwasher. One thing I liked was that I don’t have to snip open a tablet that’s individually wrapped (the way I do with the brand I have been using). I just pop the pac right into my dishwasher detergent compartment, and the whole thing dissolves nicely when I run a load of dishes.

You can see from the 3 little colors on the pac (and it almost looks like a piece of jewelry to me!) that it has what it calls a triple-action formula. According to the product information that I read, it has increased enzyme power that helps it clean better. (It contains the grease fighting power of Dawn: my favorite dishwashing liquid for doing dishes by hand.), Then it has a dual surfactant system that helps your dishes shed water and shine. And it has a specially designed chelant and polymer system that helps prevent hard-water film build-up, not only on your dishes, but also on your dishwasher walls, as well.

All I know is that my dishes came out clean as clean can be. And that outcome helped keep me from grumbling. Which I view as a GOOD thing!

Gail Simmons, the editor of Food & Wine magazine, and a judge on Top Chef,  has also partnered with Cascade, to discuss why presentation is just as important as food preparation. We eat first with our eyes, and having sparkling clean dishes and a meal that has been beautifully plated, helps your family and guests enjoy their meal even more. Here’s a link Cascade’s YouTube page,  where you can see a video to learn more from Gail Simmons about the importance of how you present your culinary offerings:  https://bit.ly/124rLfa .

Cascade is sponsoring a photo contest on Instagram, where you can enter your beautifully plated food offerings with the hashtag,  #MyPlatinum, for a chance to win some great prizes! Here’s where you can find out how to register for that: #MyPlatinum Instagram contest: https://tinyurl.com/PlatBlog.

And here’s the photo that I submitted to it this week:

Sparkling silverware on a shining plate of Aztec Salad.

My experience with Cascade Platinum Pacs has been at least as good as the dishwasher product I have been using, and I would happily purchase it myself, assuming I can find it for the same price, or less, as the product that I have been using.

Want to know more? Check out Cascade’s website: https://bit.ly/16Te3N5    You can also check out  Cascade’s Facebook page: https://on.fb.me/10Y8RQQ
While this product review was sponsored, all opinions are strictly my own. Because this girl’s ALWAYS got an opinion. And, she’s glad to share it. 🙂

Got any opinions yourself on dishwashers and dishwasher detergents?