[1] It is a common practice in Western cultures, where both men and women work outside the home and elaborate meals are difficult if not impossible to prepare given the time constraints.
Current well-known practitioners of the art include Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee; in addition, Cook's Illustrated magazine has often incorporated convenience-cooking principles into their recipes.
A significant amount of convenience cooking revolves around simplifying recipes to five or fewer ingredients.
This genre of cooking focuses largely on process and technique rather than ingredients, and is aimed at getting the best quality out of a quickly prepared meal as possible, especially using common kitchen tools rather than specialized equipment such as convection ovens and microwave ovens.
Sometimes kneading dough is removed from the process of making bread because it requires large amounts of time and effort.