Slow cooker and a job - HOW??

[Elbowgreaser]

For years everything I've cooked in a slow cooker has been dry and a bit grim. A bit of MN searching reveals that it's because I'm cooking it too long, but I leave the house for work at 7.30am so I can't really see how to cook for less time? You're supposed to use hot liquids and pre-saute/brown meat and vegetables, so I can't really leave it all in there (festering in its own bacteria) and set a timer for it to come on at lunchtime.

I feel like slow cookers are billed as the ultimate solution for working people who want to eat home-made food, but not if it only needs 3-4 hours to cook! There must be a solution - can anyone offer advice please?!

as a pp said up thread, use frozen. if i have to leave it longer than is ideal, i use frozen meat (or at a push frozen ice cubes) helps keep it cold before it starts the heat cycle.

These slow cooker recipes are great, thanks all

I used to use a slow cooker, but everything came out grey and bland. Now I've got an instant pot and i love it.
I use it nearly everyday, sometimes for all 3 meals.
You can either use the delay start on it, so the meal will be freshly cooked for your return (but obviously the raw ingredients will have been sitting at an ambient temperature for a few hours, so not recommended for meat).
Or, the instant pot has a keep warm setting, which it switches to, for up to 10 hours after it's finished cooking. This keeps the food at a safe temperature, so bacteria can't start doing their thing.
It may be more expensive to buy than a slow cooker, but it is so much more versatile and the food is more tasty, if you can afford it, I'd recommend it.

You can cook all sorts of things in it, from stews, to bolognaise, to whole joints of meat, including a chicken, the best ever risotto (although that won't keep well on keep warm).
It also cooks in a very hands off way, so if you chuck some ingredients in when you get home from work, (you can use stuff straight from the freezer), press a button and get all the other jobs done, then beep, beep, beep and there's a meal, it's almost like someone else has made it for you,