Safely using slow cooker

[bickie]

I have just bought a slow cooker so that I have a meal ready for when we get home - and I am keen to try some recipes - but most seem to be for 6-8 hours even on low. I leave the house at 8 and return back at 7 - so need to hook it up to a timer. Does anyone have experience with leaving food at room temp for 5 hours and then having timer kick in - or do most people have the cooked food sit for 5 6 hours?

Message withdrawn

I am new to slow cooking too (had one for about a month). I leave the house at 7.30 which is when the slow cooker goes on. We eat at between 7 and 8pm. I find that if you leave it on low for longer it doesn't make any difference to the taste and is perfectly safe.

Also slow cookers seem to retain a lot of heat so I sometimes switch mine off when I get in and it will still be piping hot an hour or two later.