Convenient canned dough and barbecue sauce for everyone!

Sick of life's inconveniences? Trying to complete the captcha image five times and beginning to doubt your basic ability to recognize a stoplight (and wondering who the hell uses captcha anymore anyway)? Constantly popping the same batteries into and out of your remote and pushing the buttons extra hard because the batteries are half-dead and you didn't realize you were out of fresh batteries (or are too lazy to try to find them)? Swearing at the self-checkout that will not register half the stuff you try to scan and that requires constant intervention from the single clerk trying to oversee all six of the self-checkouts, meaning you spend MORE time in close proximity to another human being than you probably would have if you just waited in line for the single checkout with an actual checker that wound halfway around the store? 

Well, I can't help with any of that. But we can try to forget about life's inconveniences by scanning through From Pillsbury: The Convenient Cookbook (undated, but it's cheaper than The Nice 'n Easy Cook Book from the late '60s, has an ad for the 1963 version of their family cookbook, and includes Funny Face drink mix (introduced in 1964) and crescent rolls (introduced in 1965) in a few recipes, so it must be from the mid-'60s).

Gotta love the pretend-elegance of meatloaf wrapped in canned crescent rolls, plus a salad with some non-iceberg lettuce floating in a school bus yellow void on the cover.

That pretend-elegance extends to the recipes as well. Just look at this starter for a romantic dinner.

White tablecloth! Candlelight! Fresh flowers!

And canned beef bouillon with just a hint of barbecue sauce! In a glass mug with an upside-down handle that would probably make it super-easy to spill! Cleaning up bouillon-and-barbecue-sauce stains is soooo romantic...

Okay, maybe you've just got to worry about feeding the family. It doesn't have to be romantic, exactly, but maybe you can at least class up the meatloaf so it will be like the one on the cover?

Wrap it in crescent rolls and guess what!

It's a Meatloaf Wellington, perfect for when you want to pretend that you're rich enough to employ someone to make a proper Beef Wellington while you spend the afternoon playing tennis, but when you've actually spent most of it trying to figure out where the cat/ dog/ toddler pooped and then regretting that you opted for wall-to-wall carpeting. If you try really hard, you can pretend that the can of cream of mushroom soup counts as Duxelles. (And also, if you were wondering, yes, "Crescent Rolls can also be used on baked ham.")

Now let's check out the recipes that are meant to be fun, like this state-fair-food wannabe.

It's not a misshapen Twinkie on a stick. It's a Cheese Pronto!

I think the kids are more likely to enjoy hot dogs and cheese in a cornmeal crusted dinner roll wrap, and it's way easier to make than Meatloaf Wellington anyway.

If even wrapping hot dogs in roll dough seems like a little too much, there's always this cute little number.

I love the sunny '60s pop-art feel, and the recipe couldn't be much easier.

Okay, fine, you do have to dip the biscuits in milk and cornmeal, plus stand them on their edges before baking. On the plus side, though, you only have to heat up the chili. Oh, and take it out of the can first. If you call it "Chili Mexican," nobody will know that it's just plain old canned chili surrounded by refrigerated-dough petals.

And finally, since these books are not complete without a gelatin of some kind, here's Cherry Mold.

It's of the ever-popular "Let's throw in some celery and olives for good measure!" genre. Nobody wants olives and celery with their cherries and pecans, but if the family get used to a world that bends to their wishes, well, they will just become unbearable. It's best to keep their expectations low so life will be more convenient. (There's the real convenience in this cookbook!)