Growing up in California, there was the constant pressure to conserve water. We washed all of the dishes by hand, being sure to shut off the water between dishes so as not to waste any of our precious resource. I think I only recall the dishwasher being used twice in the first 17 years of my life – and one of those times my mom used regular dish soap to fill the cup since we didn’t have any dishwasher detergent. Why would we? We never used the darn thing? Needless to say, the bubbles quickly started flowing out of the dishwasher and onto the floor.
Once I moved out of my parents house, I embraced the college lifestyle by piling dishes up in the sink until the sink was full, and then loading up the dishwasher with all of the dirty, dried on plates. Sadly, many of those dishes still came out of the dishwasher with very clean pieces of food now plastered onto the plates. Since piling up dishes is a habit that I have yet to break (sometimes I just don’t want to wash the dishes!) I was so excited to get the opportunity to try the Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product Awards recipient – Cascade Complete Pacs.
The Cascade Complete All-in-1- Pacs are powerful dishwashing Pacs that contain several products in one convenient package to help you get even baked on cheese off your dishes without pre-rinsing. The Pac  package is about 2″ x 2″ in size and it fit easily into the detergent container in the two dishwashers I tested the Pacs in.  According to Cascade, each Cascade Complete All-in-1 Pac “combines the best of powder and gel in one powerful pac.”  This includes pre-treating, fast-dissolving, grease fighting, stain fighting, and rinse aid “power.”
To test out Cascade Complete Pacs, I did two full loads of dishes in two different dishwashers. The first load contained the bane of most dishwashers existences’ – the wine glass. My friends and I had enjoyed some nice glasses of sangria, which after being emptied to the last drop, got placed on the top shelf of the dishwasher. Eager to keep it challenging, I also filled the rest of the dishwasher with dirty dishes – cups, bowls, plates, etc.
Here’s the full load (you can just see the wine glasses at the top):
And here is a very, very clean wine glass. I was truly impressed that every single dish – from the cups to the plates to the utensils (which were really packed in) came out virtually spotless. There were a couple of glasses where there was a single water drop that was on, but those were only noticeable to someone who was looking for them. Normally my dishes come out with a few more spots – and that’s even using a rinse aid! The final verdict for the first load of normal dishes plus wine glasses is a success for Cascade Complete Pacs.
Next up, we were challenged to cook up a very messy dinner. I was provided with “Real Housewives of New York” star, Alex McCord’s, recipe for Potatoes au Gratin e Moutarde – which is essentially several layers of potatoes, and cheese, and more potatoes, and more cheese, which you then bake until it reaches gooey cheesy potato perfection. It also results in a casserole dish that has baked on (and some of it kind of burnt) cheese all around the edge.
I had to stop my friend from pre-rinsing and soaking this dish. He naturally assumed that this sucker would need some serious soaking and scrubbing. This seemed like it would be a big challenge for Cascade Complete Pacs. We placed the dish in the dishwasher on the bottom shelf, along with our dinner dishes, utensils, and glasses, plus some other dirty dishes that were already in the sink. The blue arrow points out where the casserole dish with baked on cheese is in the dishwasher.
One normal dishwasher cycle later, it was time to see the results:
All I can say is “Wow!” I can’t believe that every single piece of baked and burnt on cheese and potato came off the dish! There wasn’t a spec or any sort of remnant that even hinted at there being gratin in the dish beforehand. Not only was the casserole dish clean, but so was every other dish that had been used to eat, cook, or assemble the gratin (including the spoon with all the cheese goop on it!) I was completely surprised that Cascade Complete Pacs were so effective.
To learn more about the award-winning Cascade Complete Pacs, you can visit their website at www.cascadeclean.com. The website has coupons for $0.50 off the All-in-1 ActionPacs and some other Cascade products, in addition to some dishwashing tips and a product selector. If you’ve had the opportunity to try out Cascade Complete Pacs and have had similar (or different) results, you can share your review on the site as well.
Congratulations to Cascade for earning a Best New Product Award from Better Homes and Gardens! With results like this, you definitely deserve it!
I finally have my first dishwasher I love cascade.