Best Toilet Paper Tablets [2023]

Toilet paper tablets are well-known by preppers at this point. The tiny compressed towels hardly take up any room and expand into a versatile small wipe that can help you with your business, among other things. They are so useful that there are now many brands and types to pick from.

This is where we come in. We’ve researched the best toilet paper tablets, tested them, and now the results are in: the overall best, a budget option, and an upgrade pick. If you need portable hygiene & sanitation wipes, one of our suggestions will help you stay fresh.

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Contents (Jump to a Section)

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Portawipes offers a few types and several different quantity levels of compressed toilet paper, but these ones take the cake.

They have the signature tiny compressed tablet design but use bamboo viscose instead of cotton. This gives you a smooth feel, a strong but thin fabric, and a biodegradable construction.

Here is everything you get with this bag of TP:

• 100-pack
• 100% Bamboo viscose
• Biodegradable
• 8.5″ x 9.5″ expanded
• 11 ounces (whole package)

With a smooth but strong texture, it’s easy to see why the versatile Portawipes Toilet Paper Tablets top the rest.

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Good old cotton happens to be cheap even when it’s compressed! Tear open the individual wrapper and sprinkle some water on this tiny tablet to get a modest washcloth-sized piece of toilet paper ready to use.

Here is how the tablets measure up:

• 100-pack
• 100% Cotton
• Biodegradable
• 8.7″ x 8.7″ expanded
• 9 ounces (whole package)

If you need some inexpensive toilet paper tablets that work reliably, the BigOtters Compressed Towels are what you’re looking for.

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Lightload towels are admittedly larger than most of your run-of-the-mill toilet paper, but we couldn’t ignore the versatility the original compressed towels bring.

Sure, you might think twice about using them as toilet paper since they are more expensive, but they are also tearable. You can get 4-5 strips out of one towel. Most people opt to use them for other tasks first, and when they are at the end of their life use them as toilet paper. They are still biodegradable but are one of the softest tablet fabrics you’ll find.

Here are the specs:

• 3-pack
• 100% Lyocell
• Biodegradable
• 12″ x 24″ expanded
• 0.5 ounces

With great versatility, reusability, and a soft feel, the Lightload Towels are up for any sanitation or hygiene task.

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Everything We Recommend

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The Toilet Paper We Compared

Our research narrowed the field down to a few brands and types of tablets that we compared: Lightload, Portawipes, BigOtters, PACT, P4X, Wysi, Tissuedori, and more.

You can see our full list of review criteria below in the What to Look For section, with an explanation for each.

We considered a wide range of compressed cloth tablets made of different materials.

We’re always looking for new and better supplies, so if you have some toilet paper tablets that you trust, let us know in the comments. We review most of our tested supplies annually so we can try to get it in the next roundup round and see if it will beat out our top picks.

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What to Look For

The best toilet paper tablets have a few features to look for:

1. Value
2. Strength
3. Absorption
4. Size & Weight
5. Versatility

When you get the right blend of these, you can find some TP that you can tote along with you and use in a wide range of situations. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the toilet tickets that truly set themselves apart.

Value: Cost vs. Benefit

The amount of money you spend on something like toilet paper shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. Given their price, it would be surprising if you hurt your wallet too badly since they don’t cost much.

You never want to spend too much money on one resource, even when it comes to sanitation. It’s better to diversify your spending to make sure you are covered for a wide range of scenarios.

Strength

The only thing worse than SHTF is putting your hand through toilet paper. Nobody wants to deal with that regardless of world affairs and regional disasters. Toilet paper should be strong enough to use for its sole purpose.

There are some brands pushing lightweight tablets that tear easily and are thin enough to work acceptably with a lot of folding.

Just get toilet paper you can trust- don’t worry about the strength of your toilet paper when you’re already worried about survival.

Absorption

Absorption is important for compressed towels because the absorption is what helps them expand. A few tablets we tested were extremely stubborn and resistant to returning to their original cloth form because they did not easily absorb water.

Also, some tablets (like our upgrade pick) can absorb significantly more than their weight due to their design and material.

Size & Weight

The size and weight of toilet paper tablets are why they are so useful- they weigh hardly anything and have been compacted down to a coin size.

We did consider some larger tablets but stayed clear of anything approaching a yard in uncompressed size. We have a whole review focused on survival towels, so you can check that out if you are looking for something larger.

Versatility

Toilet paper tablets are already wonderfully versatile- even between survival situations and everyday life.

People use them all over the place and not just for toileting. They make excellent seed starters, tinder for fire starting, cleaning wipes, nosebleed stoppers- the list goes on as far as your imagination!

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How Do Toilet Paper Tablets Work?

Toilet paper tablets are usually made from biodegradable materials that are compressed in a specific way to allow them to swell into a sheet when they absorb a small amount of water.

Warning: Keep toilet paper tablets away from young kids or immature adults. They look like mints.

To get a toilet paper tablet to expand, you just need to add a small amount of water or any other thin liquid. Once it has expanded, you may need to unroll or unfold the tablet to get the full-size sheet depending on how it was packaged.

When you are done with your business, most toilet paper tablets can be buried in a cathole. Using too many in a standard toilet could clog it immediately or over time, as they do take time to biodegrade.

Nate Polson (Canadian Prepper) had one of his biggest videos on toilet paper tablets and demonstrates how they work in it:

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Who Needs Toilet Paper Tablets?

Anyone can use toilet paper tablets. Compact towelettes can be used anywhere for hygiene or sanitation, and really excel when you are out and about, camping, or in a survival kit.

We have them in almost all of our survival kits, but only consider them essential for your standard kit:

We strongly suggest them for your mobile kits as well:

There is not much of a drawback to including them in kits, given their low price and tiny profile.

Sources and References

All of our experience and the testing we do to determine the best toilet paper tablets are useless without listing our research sources and references. We leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with our hands-on testing and practical survival experience:

Knettel, D. (2018). Z-Directional Compressibility of Paper Towel Structural Features. [Master’s thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. (Source)

Bhat, G., et al. (2010). Biodegradable materials for nonwovens. Applications of Nonwovens in Technical Textiles. Woodhead Publishing. Pages 46 – 62. (Source)

Ramasubramanian, M. (2002). Physical and Mechanical Properties of Towel and Tissue. Handbook of Physical Testing of Paper: CRC Press. (Source)

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The Final Word

Hygiene and sanitation often go overlooked, but these tiny tablets let you solve that problem inexpensively without cluttering up your kits.

Here are a few other gear reviews and guides our subscribers have found helpful:

We presented quite a lot of information, but as always: if you have any questions let us know and we would be happy to help. Our testing found the Portawipes Compressed Toilet Paper Tablets to be the best option given their value, strength, absorption, size/weight, and versatility.

Keep exploring, stay prepared, and be safe.

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