The good? Well, that's easy: if you prepare in advance, your dinner will be on the table in minutes.

And the bad?

"When I'm using a slow cooker and I'm home all day, the smell just makes me want to eat all the time," she says with a laugh. "So in the winter, I plug it in the garage, or in the summer, I plug it in on the deck."

For many however, the advantage of a slow cooker is that you can prepare your meal and forget about it. Then five, six, maybe eight hours later, just come home and unplug the appliance. These days, many sizes and brands of slow cookers are on the market, at all kinds of prices. They range from the fancy to the simple.

There are tons of slow cooker cookbooks and recipes, too, from the standard stews, pot roasts and chili, to breads, puddings, even cheesecakes and soups.

Just don't take the lid off to check how your dish is doing, cautions Pare.

"Every time you do it, you lose 15 minutes of heat (in the cooker)," she said. "It'll take time to build up the heat in there again."

Want to convert a favourite recipe so you can make it in your slow cooker? Here are five tips, excerpted from the cookbook, The Slow Cooker Collection by Elizabeth Baird and the Canadian Living Test Kitchen.

1. "The first step is still browning the meat or poultry. Then cook the onion, garlic and seasonings, such as spices, curry paste and tomato paste."

2. "Choose the Low setting for most recipes. High heat tends to toughen meat and poultry, making them stringy. As a rule, beef, lamb and pork dishes cook for six to eight hours; chicken and vegetarian dishes for four to six hours."

3. "Adjust the liquid. Unlike cooking on the stove or in the oven, there's no place for liquid to evaporate in a slow cooker. You'll need to reduce the liquid by about 50 per cent for most recipes."

4. "Sweet green peppers can turn bitter with long cooking, so add them near the end of cooking.

5. "To prevent dairy products from separating, always add them near the end of cooking. Try creamy, lower-fat evaporated milk instead of cream or milk. It boosts calcium and is a healthful, delicious substitute."

Slow Cooker Poached Fish with Saffron

This fragrant recipe comes from Eric Akis, author of the recently published Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations: Seasonal Recipes for Festive Occasions (Whitecap).Akis is working on a slow cooker cookbook, to be published in fall 2010. He says he used an oval, six-litre slow cooker to cook this dish; he also recommends serving the dish "with boiled potatoes and a green vegetable." Serves 4

3 cups (750 mL) fish or chicken stock

1/2 cup (125 mL) white wine

1/2 cup (125 mL) orange juice

1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) loosely packed saffron threads, crumbled

1 cup (250 mL) thinly sliced fresh fennel bulb (about 1 small bulb)

2 to 3 garlic cloves, halved and thinly sliced 6 to 8 whole peppercorns

Salt to taste 4 (6-ounce/ 170 g) halibut, salmon or cod fillets Fresh fennel leaves for garnish (optional)

Place all the ingredients, except fish and fennel leaves, in your slow cooker. Cover and cook on the low setting for 4 hours. Submerge the fish in the poaching liquid. Cover and cook 10 minutes more, or until fish is just cooked through. Carefully lift the fish out of the poaching liquid into shallow-sided bowls. Spoon some of the fennel and broth over the fish. Garnish with fresh fennel leaves, if desired, and serve. The remaining poaching liquid could be strained, cooled to room temperature, packaged and frozen. Thaw and use when needed in recipes calling for fish stock, such as soups or sauces.

The Best Chicken Dish

This colourful and delicious dish comes from Jean Pare and the folks at Company's Coming; it's reprinted from Slow Cooker Dinners. You'll find many more recipes including slow cooker dishes, online at companyscoming.com. There are four Company's Coming slow cooker cookbooks,. Serves 8

1 tablespoon (15 mL) cooking oil

1 pound (454 g) lean ground chicken

19 ounce (540 mL) can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained

1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped onion 1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) salt

1/3 cup (75 mL) sun-dried tomato pesto

1 tablespoon (15 mL) all-purpose flour 14 ounces (398 mL) can of diced tomatoes (with juice)

1 tablespoon (15 mL) balsamic vinegar 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) salt 4 cups (1L) chopped red pepper

1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped zucchini (with peel)

Heat cooking oil in large frying pan on medium. Add ground chicken. Scramble-fry for 5 to 10 minutes until no longer pink. Drain. Transfer to 3 1/2 to 4-quart (3.5 to 4 L) slow cooker. Add chickpeas, onion and first amount of salt. Stir. Stir pesto into flour in small bowl until smooth. Add next 4 ingredients. Stir well. Pour over chicken mixture. Stir well. Cover.

Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. Add red pepper and zucchini. Stir. Cover. Cook on High for 30 to 45 minutes until red pepper is tender-crisp.

Make ahead: The night before, chop vegetables. Chill overnight in separate covered bowls. Fry ground chicken until no longer pink. Drain. Chill overnight in separate covered bowl. Assemble and cook as directed.