How does this slow cooker thing work?

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I've been given a slow cooker. I have bought some meat thinking I would make a stew this evening for tomorrow's dinner. The timing doesn't seem to work. The recipe i have takes 7 hours - if I start it now ish I'd have to turn it off at 1am when I'm asleep. If I start it in the morning I'd have to turn it off at 2pm when I'm at work. I'm clearly not getting this. How do I fit it into my day??

The seven hours will be a minimum. If you set it going in the morning there will be a meal waiting for you when you get home.

Most of your usual recipes will work with a bit of adjustment to get enough, but not too much liquid.

Enjoy.

Our slow cooker takes about 5 hours max, even on low. After 7 hours I would have mush. For a casserole for dinner I usually put it on about 2pm.

Ah. Is there a usual maximum?

I aim to put mine on between 8am and 10am that means on a 'low' 7 hour cook it will be done between 3pm and 5pm. Mine has a 2 hour 'warm' function which I can add to the cooking time as well.

I also have a 'high' function which allows for a faster 4 hour cook time.

Mine has three settings, high, low and automatic. I always use auto which cooks over 8 hours and then it 'keeps warm' once the cooking time ends. I normally put it on at 8am (chop the veg the night before) and have dinner at 5pm. Try it out on a weekend and see how it works. Slow cookers are great for batch cooking, there's only 2 of us so we get a portion each to eat and another one each in the freezer.

Right... this is tricky. I'm out of the house 10 hours at a minimum. Oh well, perhaps that's why my friend gave it away!

We sometimes use a timer for ours to start at a certain time and switch off at another.

Maybe get plug in timer to start it later in the day

Maybe just use it at the weekend or when you are off to batch cook. It's brilliant for things like chilli's or casseroles.