Although this isn't something that you eat, it is very handy.
It is good for ALL kinds of washers - High energy, front load, top load, heavy duty, you name it.
It's fairly easy but a little time consuming. It's very frugal - each batch costs only around $2 to make (works out to about 6 or 7 cents per load).
1 batch will usually last my family of 4 for about 3 or 4 months.
You will need:
a large container of some sort
1 bar Soap
1 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
28 cups hot water
Grate (as finely as possible) your soap into a medium saucepan.
Add 6 cups hot water and heat on stove until the soap is dissolved. Remove the pan from heat and add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup borax. Stir until everything is mixed together well. Pour the soap mixture in your container and add 22 cups of hot water. Stir well and let sit for up to 24 hours.
This makes about 7 litres. After it has set, it will be a sort of gel. Stir it up and then you can transfer it to storage containers if you want. I usually dilute it more at this point so it's a little more pourable.
When you're using this for laundry, you'll probably use about a cup per large load. You need to let it mix with the water before you add whatever you're washing or you might get streaks of residue on your stuff. I usually wash in cold water but I don't think it would be as tricky to use in hot water (because it would dissolve more quickly in hot water).
