Let's face it, nobody wants to lose a precious hour of sleep to get up in the morning and begin chopping and preparing a meal.
You'll save a significant amount of time by preheating a slow cooker for around 20 minutes before adding your ingredients.
Chopping root vegetables, such as celery, onions and potatoes, to the same size ensures they will all cook evenly.
A slow cooker should be filled to a minimum of half full and a maximum of three-quarters full. If there's too much in there, it won't work as efficiently and it may spill over and make a mess, which is not ideal.
It's worth buying a reusable and refillable oil spray. This prevents food sticking to your slow cooker and makes for easier washing up.
It may sound obvious, but it's often tempting to remove the lid to have a look at what's cooking.
The heat in a slow cooker comes from below, so take care to correctly layer up the ingredients. Root vegetables and meat should go in first, followed by any seasonings and sauce.
If you don't fry spices before adding them to a slow cooker dish, they will taste raw and harsh, without their flavours being released.