We tested the futuristic, $349 oven that some say could replace every cooking appliance that you own, and we were completely blown away by it
The new oven works in the same way as the original version. There are two options: to cook independently using the machine, or to subscribe to its pre-prepared meal kits.
If you opt for the meal kits, you have the choice between three, four, six, eight, nine, or 12 meals a week.
Customers who sign up for 100 Tovala meals within the first 12 months of their purchase are eligible for $100 off the oven.
The oven itself costs $349 and comes with a 180-day return policy.
Each meal costs $12 and is meant to feed one person. If you're ordering as a couple or feeding a family, you'd need to order more of each variety.
Customers are required to pick which meals they want on a Wednesday for the following Monday.
There are eight different meals to choose from each week.
The dishes are made with fresh ingredients, which are locally sourced when possible.
"The overarching philosophy in the meals is to have clean ingredients," Rabie told Business Insider. There are no preservatives in the food, the meals are never frozen, and they are meant to last for the week only.
While the premise of these meal kits is similar to other companies such as Blue Apron, Tovala meals require almost no preparation time.
The food arrives pre-chopped in trays that look a lot like airplane meals and are ready to be cooked right away.
Rabie said that the company has seen a lot of former meal-kit customers turning to Tovala after being frustrated by the chopping, cooking, and cleaning involved with these other meal-kit services.
"I get customers that email me saying, 'You saved my marriage,'" he said. "It is insane what taking the stress of dinner away from people will do. We didn't expect this when we launched the company."
The only thing you need to do is season the dishes.
"Spreading a glaze is one of the more involved steps," Alexander Plotkin, the company's chief culinary officer, told Business Insider.
In some cases, you'll be doing no more than opening the box and peeling away the plastic.
Each meal has a unique barcode on it.
This barcode stores the data that instructs the machine exactly how to cook the dish.
If any changes are needed to be made to the recipe, it can be done automatically from the company's headquarters and then updated on every Tovala machine around the country.
It takes between 18 and 20 minutes to cook each meal, and a minute or less to prepare it.
You can track the cooking progress using the Tovala app.
The team has resolved one of the biggest complaints customers had with the first version of the oven, and that is that they were not able to operate the machine without using the app. This is now possible.
Plotkin has created a selection of around 250 recipes for food that can be cooked together using the same sequence of steam, convection bake, and broil.
For example, this miso-glazed salmon and charred citrus broccoli dish steams at 400°F for a minute and 30 seconds, convection bakes at 400°F for five minutes and 30 seconds, then broils at 500°F for four minutes and 15 seconds.
This means there is no messing around with different equipment or dishes.
Twenty minutes later, the meal is ready to be plated.
Tasting the food was probably the most surprising part of this test. While the machine is impressive, it's the high quality of the food that's the real game changer.
We tried two other meals ...
... which were just as easy to cook and equally delicious.
Disclaimer: these were voted as some of Tovala's most popular dishes, so we were sampling the best of the best.
Each meal contains between 400 and 800 calories.
Plotkin said that because of the low calorie count and portion control, some customers have said they've lost weight while cooking with the Tovala oven.
There are at least two vegetarian meals offered a week ...
... as well as various nut-, dairy-, or gluten-free options.
Tovala also plans to look at developing meals that would fit into diet plans such as Whole30.
One of the biggest downsides of the meal kits is the cost, which could add up if you're feeding a family. However, the bonus here is that you can opt out of the meal kits and simply use the oven to cook your own recipes.
You can either use it in the same way you'd use a regular oven or use the app to select a recipe. The oven will then automatically cook your food.
We tested one of the simplest recipes around, which also tends to have the most unpredictable results: boiling an egg.
The app allows you to select exactly how you want your egg cooked. We tried a soft- and hard-boiled egg and both were cooked to perfection.
Our verdict:
Tovala is more convenient than a meal kit and healthier than a microwave meal. It's an efficient solution to healthy cooking at home.
However, you need to be prepared to fork up for these dishes. While the economics of it might make sense if you live in an expensive city where groceries prices are high, outside of there, it is harder to justify.
That said, if it can give you back your evenings and even save your marriage, maybe it's worth taking the hit.
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