Morton Safe-T-Salt Rock Salt 25.0 LB For Snow And Ice Removal

Why it's worth it

This is plain rock salt, nothing else, in a 25-pound bag. Morton rates it down to 5°F, and the coarse grains give you traction underfoot before they melt much of anything — which is half the reason to keep a bag around at all.

Rock salt is still the right answer in a mild winter. If your cold snaps sit in the 20s and 30s and the ice is thin, sodium chloride handles it without drama. It costs a fraction of what the blended and chloride-free bags do per pound, so you can be generous on a long driveway without doing math. For a lot of the country, that's the entire job.

The traction is underrated. Coarse grains bite into a glazed surface right away, well before the melting starts, which is why Morton suggests keeping a bag in the trunk. You get something to throw under a spinning tire, and the weight itself helps a rear-drive car hold the road.

From our review of 8 ice melt products

What we like

• +Rock salt is still the right answer in a mild winter
• +The traction is underrated
• +It's also the easiest bag here to find and to store

What to know

• –The catch is cold. The Spruce puts rock salt's practical floor around 15 to 20°F, well above the 5°F printed on the bag, and…
• –It's also the hardest on everything it touches