Creative Savings

The following is a sponsored post. 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 5 years of marriage, I never owned a dishwasher. We owned one growing up, of course, but once I was out on my own, we seemed drawn towards apartments and houses that didn’t include this sanity saving appliance.

Not having a dishwasher, was also one of the reasons (though a small one), that I got out of cake decorating. The grease from the frosting was such a pain to wash out, and even the strongest dish soap left a film behind.

Then, we moved down to Florida, and I was in absolute heaven to see that the short-term lease apartment we were renting had a dishwasher.

In fact, I was so excited, that I ended up putting everything and anything in it. Including a very nice ice cream scoop. Well….it was.

As for choosing a detergent, I really didn’t think much beyond buying the normal {no brand} powdery kind, and it worked OK.

I still had to rinse everything down, and scrape off stuck on food if I didn’t want to wash dishes twice. And what’s the point of a dishwasher then!?

My pots always came out with a greasy film on them too. But I just thought it came with the territory, and relegated myself to hand scrubbing them too.

Then, Cascade offered me a trial of their new Platinum Pacs, and I thought, why not? Anything would be an improvement over what I was using.

Let me tell you – Cascade Platinum Pacs exceeded expectations. They are pretty amazing!

First of all, they are so easy to use. No more worries about dumping powder all over the place. I just pop a Pac in, close the little door, and set it going.

I always rolled my eyes at those dish washing commercials where everything came out sparkling – yeah right! But seriously, my dishes and glasses were gleaming. And they didn’t have spots.

Best of all, my pots came out with absolutely no filmy residue, and the plates that I had just stuck in the dishwasher after dinner (without rinsing, mind you), had no trace of food on them at all.

I even tested my Kitchen Aid paddle from the greasy cake decorating frosting I made for the Patriotic Cupcakes last week, and it came out squeaky clean too.

FYI – those spatulas were already stained!

What makes Cascade Platinum Pacs so effective?

• Delivers a premium, advanced triple action formula that helps prevent residue on your dishes, and even film buildup on your machine.
• Scrubs away tough 24 hour stuck-on food.
• Eliminates the need to pre-wash dishes.
• Has the Grease Fighting Power of Dawn.

Here’s how it compares to other Cascade brands:

How does price fit in to all this?

Even though Cascade Platinum earns all high marks from me, it still comes down to price, and whether buying this product is truly worth it or not. Because it definitely needs to fit my budget!

Before doing any calculations, I was assuming that the Platinum would be way out of my price range. Unfortunately, that is somewhat true.

Just look at the breakdown here:

Wow! As you can see, it’s really hard to justify paying for Platinum, when I can run my dishes for mere pennies on powdered detergent. But since I’m not really thrilled with how the powdered stuff works, I think a compromise is in order.

Here’s my conclusion – I would only buy Platinum Pacs on a really good sale, and with coupons.

However, even when buying Pacs, I would never use them exclusively. I would determine which loads were the worst, use Pacs on the really dirty ones, and powder on the ones that weren’t so bad. That way, the Pacs would last a lot longer in my house.

Buy It/Skip It: Your choice.

Have you ever tried any Cascade Pacs before?

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Visit Cascade’s website or “Like” on Facebook for more info and updates on their products.

If you’d like to try Cascade Platinum Pacs for yourself, here is a $.50 coupon from their website to help with the cost. Then share your sparkling photos in the #MyPlatinum Instagram Contest. You could win a kitchen makeover, and a year supply of Cascade! {contest expires 6/30/13}

Cascade has also partnered with Top Chef and Food+Wine Magazine editor, Gail Simmons, to discuss why presentation is just as important as the food itself. See why Gail recommends Cascade Platinum. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free from Cascade. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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