Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent

Last Updated on September 27, 2023

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I’ve been shopping at Aldi for most of my adult life, and one of the products I’ve regularly purchased there over the years is laundry detergent. Aldi was my go-to store for laundry detergent when I was shopping for just my husband and myself during the early days of our marriage when we did laundry in a tiny closet in our apartment. Nowadays, I stock up on Aldi detergent for our basement laundry room so the whole family — including the tweens and teens — can wash their clothing.

What Types of Laundry Detergent Does Aldi Sell?

The three house brand laundry detergents at Aldi.

Aldi laundry detergent formulas haven’t really changed over the years. For a long time now, Aldi has sold three different color-coded house brand detergents under their Tandil private label. The Aldi detergents are as follows:

• Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent in a blue bottle, comparable to Purex Mountain Breeze and the cheapest detergent Aldi sells.
• Tandil Premium Island Breeze Laundry Detergent in a green bottle, comparable to Gain Island Fresh and the mid-priced house brand detergent option at Aldi.
• Tandil Premium Original Scent Laundry Detergent in a red bottle, comparable to Tide Original Scent and the most expensive house brand detergent at Aldi.

Aldi also frequently stocks at least one or two name brand detergents such as Tide and Gain.

Tandil is not a company, and Aldi can be secretive about who makes their private label products. At the time of writing, the Aldi detergent bottles specify that they are not manufactured or distributed by The Dial Corporation (which makes Purex) or Procter & Gamble (which makes Tide and Gain). We do know, though, that all Aldi house brand laundry detergent is a product of Canada.

Here, I’m taking a closer look at the cheapest laundry detergent option at Aldi, which is sold in a blue bottle and is comparable to name-brand Purex Mountain Breeze. I’ve bought this detergent frequently, especially during my family’s more lean-budget years, because it’s the cheapest price per ounce and does a decent job of getting clothes clean. Its name-brand counterpart, Purex, is known as a budget-friendly or value laundry detergent brand that doesn’t have quite the stain-fighting power of some other brands such as Tide, but it’s a solid contender. If you aren’t washing heavily soiled clothes, Purex does all right.

Price Comparisons:

Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent cost $5.99 for a 100-fluid-ounce bottle (3.12 quarts, or 2.95 liters) at the time of publication. That comes out to about 6 cents per ounce. Aldi used to sell this blue bottle detergent in only a 50-ounce bottle, but in the time since we first wrote about Aldi laundry detergent, they’ve started stocking it in 100-ounce bottles.

This blue bottle Aldi detergent is a Regular Buy, so you should be able to find it at Aldi any time of year. The same goes for the other Aldi house brand detergents.

A bulk bottle of 312-ounce Purex Liquid Laundry Detergent in Mountain Breeze, which is what the Aldi blue bottle detergent attempts to imitate, costs about 5 cents per ounce at Walmart at the time of writing. That’s less than the Aldi knockoff Purex detergent, but you have to buy a huge bottle to get the lower price per ounce. Whether than makes financial sense for you depends on your household needs and how fast you go through a bottle of detergent.

For more comparison, at the time of writing, Aldi Tandil Premium Island Breeze Laundry Detergent in the green bottle (comparable to Gain Island Fresh) costs $6.99 for 100 ounces or about 7 cents per ounce. A bulk 154-ounce bottle of name-brand Gain Island Fresh costs about 10 cents per ounce at Walmart at the time of writing.

Aldi Tandil Premium Original Scent Laundry Detergent in the red bottle (comparable to Tide Original Scent) costs $7.99 for 100 ounces or about 8 cents per ounce. A bulk 146-ounce bottle of Tide Original Liquid Laundry Detergent costs about 14 cents per ounce at Walmart at the time of writing.

An additional note about price: the cheapest laundry detergent I’ve found anywhere to date is at Dollar Tree, which sells a brand called LA’s Totally Awesome that goes for about 3 cents per ounce. The only drawback is that Dollar Tree only sells that detergent in small 42-ounce or 64-ounce bottles, so a bottle won’t last as long and you’ll be dealing with more plastic waste.

Using Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent:

Directions. (Click to enlarge.)

Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent is sold in a 100-fluid-ounce bottle that claims to be good for 64 loads (as measured to line 1 on the cap). It can be used in standard and high efficiency machines, and it was not tested on animals.

Use it like you would most detergents. The bottle instructs you to sort your laundry, separating colors from whites and lightly soiled items from heavily soiled. Select an appropriate wash cycle and temperature setting. Measure detergent using the cap. For regular loads, fill to line 1. For large or heavily soiled loads, fill to line 2. The bottle says to add the measured detergent to the machine’s dispensing drawer for top loaders, add to the wash water, then add clothing.

In my top loading machine, I add detergent directly into the machine first, then put the clothing in, and then start the machine.

The bottle also suggests checking for colorfastness by applying detergent to an inconspicuous area of the garment, then rinse and dry, looking for fading or bleeding. I’ve never had problems with colors bleeding while using any Aldi laundry detergents.

For tough stain removal, wet the stained area and apply a small amount of detergent directly to the stain and gently rub the fabric together. Let stand for 1 minute, then wash as usual.

Ingredients are anionic and non-ionic surfactants, whitening agents, stain removers, foam suppressors, fragrance, preservative, and dyes. This product includes biodegradable cleaning agents. It contains no phosphates. It is safe for septic systems.

The bottle contains the usual warnings. This detergent is an eye irritant and should be kept out of reach of children. If swallowed, give a glassful of water and call a poison control center or physician immediately. Do not induce vomiting. In case of eye contact, flush with water for 15 minutes and consult a physician.

As mentioned earlier, I’ve bought many blue bottles of laundry detergent at Aldi through the years. Could I get a better deal elsewhere? Maybe. But it’s the lowest-priced detergent Aldi carries, and it’s easy to pick up a bottle while buying the weekly groceries. It doesn’t have the wow scent factor that a detergent like Gain has, and it doesn’t have quite the stain-fighting power that a detergent such as Tide has, so if those are important factors for you, you might want to spend a bit more for some of the other Aldi detergent options. However, if you need detergent on a budget, this is a decent one. It will still get your clothes clean and it smells fine.

The Verdict:

Tandil Essentials Mountain Fresh Laundry Detergent is the cheapest house brand laundry detergent at Aldi. It’s sold in a blue bottle and is comparable to name-brand Purex Mountain Breeze. Purex is known as a budget-friendly detergent that doesn’t have the same stain-fighting powers as brands such as Tide, but it is considered a good deal if you’re looking for a value detergent. This Aldi detergent doesn’t have many frills, but it will get your clothing clean. You might be able to find a slightly better deal on the Purex brand if you buy a bulk bottle at another retailer, but Aldi offers a fair price on this Purex knockoff detergent.