They aren’t just for stews and casseroles either. In fact, they're real multi-taskers, even up to the challenge of cooking a whole cut of meat – including sweet and salty coca cola ham or a tender beef joint. Vegetarian family favourites such as macaroni cheese are also a go-to. Take a look at our collection of must-cook slow cooker recipes for more inspiration. The smallest of our range of slow cookers, the 1.5 Litre Slow Cooker is ideally sized for smaller portions of slow-cooked meals, perfect if you’re just looking to serve 1 or 2 people. With all the same features as its bigger brothers, this compact slow cooker also has a small footprint which makes it incredibly easy to store when not in use, without using up all of your cupboard space.

Some slow cookers will automatically shift to this mode after a programme has ended, while others require switching manually. The prolonged process of slow cooking allows any meat that is being cooked to tenderise, maximising flavour and juiciness. The versatile cooker is great for soups, stews, casseroles, curries and much more. There is even a handful of recipes in the instruction manual to help get your started.Once the meal is finished, simply remove the inside cooking bowl and wash either in the dishwasher or in warm soapy water. This slow cooker is the perfect cooking aid for anyone with a busy lifestyle who still wants to enjoy delicious home-cooked meals. When you make a one-pot dish, you usually start by searing the meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions and garlic. Most slow cookers don’t let you do this, but there are a few that do. Some, such as the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Digital Slow Cooker 460015, simply have a metal pot that’s sturdy enough to heat on your own hob (gas or electric, not induction). By sealing food in pouches, the juices and subtle flavours that could otherwise be lost during conventional cooking are retained.

Traditionally, slow cookers use a large, ceramic casserole dish that’s slow to heat up and slow to cool down. These are heavy and will break if you drop them, but they hold their heat well so they’re lovely to carry to the table and serve from. This function can be found on the majority of slow cookers, helping to retain the temperature of your food without cooking it further – handy when you’re struggling to round up the family!The inner pot needs to be at room temperature before you start cooking. If you've kept a slow cooker dish in the fridge, you must wait for it to warm up before turning it on. An increasingly popular way of cooking, sous-vide is a French term that simply means ‘under vacuum’. You place your food inside a sealed pouch and then pop it into a temperature-controlled water bath to cook. Slow cookers vary considerably, so follow your manufacturer's manual for guidelines on temperatures and cooking times. Slow cookers range in capacity, from a compact 1.5 litres up to 7 litres. As a general guide, a 1.5 to 2.3-litre capacity is great for two people, a larger 4 to 4.5 litres will feed four, and 5.5 to 7 litres is ideal for four to six people.