Best Frugal Homemade Dishwashing Recipe Ever

I've been trying a variety of homemade recipes for several reasons. I want to be a good steward of the environment. I want to cut down on the packaging that goes in and out of my large family household. I want to cut down on my driving to and from the grocery store for this and that. Mostly I want to cut down on our expenses drastically. This may be a little thing, but all the little things together add up to a lot.

One of the things I've recently tried is homemade dishwashing detergent. Most of the recipes on line call for equal parts of borax and baking soda. I tried this for several weeks and got nasty, greasy, filmy dishes. I knew there needed to be something to cut out the greasy film. I hit upon a site in one of my searches that mentioned lemon juice. So here is the recipe I came up with yesterday.

1/3 cup borax
1/3 cup baking soda
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

Pour equal parts borax and baking soda into a jar. I saved an empty glass salted peanut jar with a lid for this purpose. Mix together. Add the water. Mix. Then add the lemon juice. Mix together.

You should end up with a liquid that is similar in consistency to liquid dishwashing detergent.

I used two tablespoons per load.

Out came squeaky clean dishes!! Go me!! (Well, not all me. I wish I could credit the sites that helped but I looked through so many - thank you fellow frugal bloggers!)

I will try one tablespoon per load today to see if less does the same job and will report back tomorrow.

If any of you have suggestions please leave a comment.

In the mean time, during this wonderful season of Christmas, I am looking ahead to Lent and trying to prepare family friendly lower carb recipes using the Orthodox Catholic restrictions of no meat, fish (except Saturdays and Sundays), eggs, diary or olive oil. (Did I hear someone say "impossible"?) It is funny that as I was thinking this, one of my children has whole heartedly decided to become a vegetarian. She overheard what I considered to be a gentle conversation about our meat/poultry industry. If she knew the whole truth she'd likely die before consuming another hamburger.

This particular child is highly sensitive to any changes in her diet, so this gives me an excellent opportunity to start testing recipes! She has promised to be open minded. I suppose hunger will do that to a person.

I've also hit on sites that discuss why it is important to soak, germinate and/or ferment grains, beans, seeds and nuts before cooking and consuming. I just ordered "Nourishing Traditions" on-line that should explain to me how I've been cooking everything wrong up till now! My hope is that these processes will lower the carb content of these foods. I've been on a low carb diet for over a year which has stabilized my hypoglycemia. I feel great, so naturally, I tremble at the thought of adding a grain to my diet! (Gasp!)

These are the places my mind has been occupied with among other frugal, cost cutting adventures.

Note: I am not an Orthodox Catholic so I'm not bound by those restrictions, but I am intrigued that in ancient times these practices were possible without serious health problems. Are we so far removed from traditional ways of preparing foods that our nutrition is compromised? The Westin A. Price Foundation is giving me "food for thought", also, Kelly the Kitchen Kop.