Our great-grandparents didn't have slow cookers to make their life easier. But they may have had something similar – a box of hay. Haybox cooking involved placing a hot pot of food in a nest of hay and leaving it there to complete cooking.

Thermal cooking is an efficient and convenient way to cook – so it’s not surprising its making a comeback.

I use my thermal pot often. I make dinner in the morning when things are less chaotic. I toss the ingredients for a curry in one pot and put rice and water in the other. I boil each for a couple of minutes and pop them in the thermal flask. Hours later I open it and dinner is ready.

I'm sharing more ways to use this old technique over on the Milkwood blog.

I'm thrilled the Milkwood team has invited me to be a regular contributor over there.