Creating Picture-Perfect Meals With my First Dishwasher & Cascade Platinum

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.

Last month, I became the proud owner of my very first dishwasher. Yes, I am 29 years old and I have never owned a dishwasher in my entire life! My parents always washed dishes by hand when I was growing up, and my current home did not have a dishwasher when I became the owner. As you know, we’ve been renovating this home for 10 years now, and the very last room we are overhauling is the kitchen. Getting a dishwasher was one of my top priorities with this renovation, and now it’s finally here!

Having a dishwasher is everything I dreamed it would be. It’s so much faster than washing by hand and it uses less water, too. It helps me clear out the whole kitchen so much faster – previously, while cooking large meals, the sink would fill with dishes as I was cooking and I would have to shuffle them around while preparing food in order to have space to access the faucets. I feel so much more inspired to bake goodies when I know that I won’t have a trashed kitchen afterwards!

Since I’m new to this whole “Dishwasher” thing – welcome to the 21st century, I know! – I’m still learning the best settings, how to arrange my dishes, and what kind of products I should be using. I have found that many items need pre-soaking before throwing in the dishwasher, and I always check all the dishes after running a load to make sure they’re fully clean. I notice that there are often items that still have bits of food stuck to them or streaks from the dishwashing soap. It still beats washing by hand, but I’m a stickler for clean dishes so I’m always looking for ways to improve my results!

So when I had the opportunity to try out a bag of Cascade Platinum, I was eager to see how it would perform. Cascade Platinum is billed as a powerful cleaner that is meant to thoroughly clean your dishes without pre-washing, even for day old dishes; it’s also touted as helping to prevent film building up inside your dishwasher. In addition, Cascade Platinum is supposed to deliver exceptional shine, which is important to me when I photograph recipes for my blogs. Presentation can make all the difference in how appetizing your food is – after all, if your plate appears dirty, your meal isn’t going to look very nice!

To put this dishwasher detergent to the test, I ran my first load of dishes and then served up some delicious carrot cake that a friend baked for me. I placed one piece on a plate washed with Cascade Platinum, and one piece on a plate washed by hand. I was surprised to compare the plates and notice that, sure enough, the plate that was washed by hand did have spots on it while the plate washed with Cascade did not.

It’s a subtle thing, but the devil’s in the details when it comes to food photography, hence the reason why I started a blog called Cooking Catastrophe. 😉 Using the plate I washed with Cascade Platinum, we got this photo of carrot cake that I thought turned out nicely:

And food bloggers aren’t the only ones concerned with squeaky clean dishes – Gail Simmons, judge on Top Chef, has recently partnered with Cascade to share tips on plating and presentation. She recommends starting your meal with shining white plates or glass to really show off your food, and shares more tips for plating along with recipes on the Cascade YouTube page.

So far, I’ve run two loads of dishes using this new detergent. Items like plates that are smeared with frosting and cake crumbs wash out spotless without rinsing beforehand, which is lovely. I had some dishes that required re-washing, but they had sat for longer than a day prior to running the dishwasher, so I can’t blame Cascade for that. (Since our household is just Jai and I, we load items into the dishwasher through the week and only run the dishwasher when it is full.) I haven’t noticed a difference in the inside of the dishwasher itself, but as it’s not meant for removing existing stains, I think that would be something I’d notice more over time.

The second load of dishes came out cleaner than the first, which doesn’t surprise me, because the dishes were mostly “Fresh”; I also included dishes which I had used to prepare homemade laundry soap, so I don’t know if the inclusion of bits of other soap that was stuck on those dishes increased the cleaning results or not. I’ve got to say, the second load of dishes was so pristine, it’s been really nice since I’m a bit picky about no speckles on my cups and plates! A 43-count bag of Cascade Platinum retails for $12.49, and I would certainly use it again. Be sure to visit the Cascade website and Facebook page for more information!

Want to make the most of your delectable food photos? Now through June 30th, you can share your best shots on Instagram for a chance to win a new Whirlpool dishwasher or even a kitchen makeover! There will be a new theme each week, from tablescapes to silverware. To enter, click here to visit the contest landing page and follow the instructions to share your photo. Don’t forget to tag @MyCascade and use the hashtag #MyPlatinum in your entries!

Thanks to my friend J for taking these photos and my friend M for baking me the delicious cake!

How do you create picture-perfect meals?