prepared meal services (e.g. Freshly, Tovala, etc.)

[GerryAZ]

I received the oven today--it appears to be equal to other higher-end countertop appliances in fit/finish and apparent quality. It was easy to set up with my workshop's WiFi router using the app on my iPhone (since it has no keypad, you need the Tovala app on either iPhone or Android so your phone can set up the oven through Bluetooth). I ran the initial setup test/cleaning cycle so it is ready when I get my first meal delivery (should be Friday).

[SalisburySam]

I received the oven today--it appears to be equal to other higher-end countertop appliances in fit/finish and apparent quality. It was easy to set up with my workshop's WiFi router using the app on my iPhone (since it has no keypad, you need the Tovala app on either iPhone or Android so your phone can set up the oven through Bluetooth). I ran the initial setup test/cleaning cycle so it is ready when I get my first meal delivery (should be Friday).

Sound pretty good, color me impressed. So the next question: how’s the food?

[cwerdna]

I received my Tovala oven on Friday 12/4 and got it set up. It doesn't feel and look like a piece of crap. At $99 and how much it would've cost them to ship, I doubt they're making $ on it. If it were $299, that would've probably covered their costs. Not sure about $199...

Unfortunately, my first food shipment scheduled for 12/9 was delayed by Fedex and is now scheduled for today. Let's just hope the gel packs are still pretty cold or solid and the food hasn't spoiled. Some folks on TiVocommunity have hit that before due to delays caused by the shipper.

I've had one delayed shipment w/Freshly before but the food was still cold and gel packs were still quite frozen.

[SalisburySam]

I received my Tovala oven on Friday 12/4 and got it set up. It doesn't feel and look like a piece of crap. At $99 and how much it would've cost them to ship, I doubt they're making $ on it. If it were $299, that would've probably covered their costs. Not sure about $199...

Unfortunately, my first food shipment scheduled for 12/9 was delayed by Fedex and is now scheduled for today. Let's just hope the gel packs are still pretty cold or solid and the food hasn't spoiled. Some folks on TiVocommunity have hit that before due to delays caused by the shipper.

I've had one delayed shipment w/Freshly before but the food was still cold and gel packs were still quite frozen.

I’ve had shipping delays with both BlueApron and HomeChef and both were taken care of quickly. Both suggest that if any of the food is above 41ºF that you don’t eat it, and each service refunded the cost of the box. I’ve had a few shipments arrive late but in most cases the cold packs did their job. It has only been once for each service that temps had gone above the target and we pitched the food, sadly. Good luck in your case.

[DaveinOlyWA]

I received my Tovala oven on Friday 12/4 and got it set up. It doesn't feel and look like a piece of crap. At $99 and how much it would've cost them to ship, I doubt they're making $ on it. If it were $299, that would've probably covered their costs. Not sure about $199...

Unfortunately, my first food shipment scheduled for 12/9 was delayed by Fedex and is now scheduled for today. Let's just hope the gel packs are still pretty cold or solid and the food hasn't spoiled. Some folks on TiVocommunity have hit that before due to delays caused by the shipper.

I've had one delayed shipment w/Freshly before but the food was still cold and gel packs were still quite frozen.

Its not a "shipping" delay. Its a lack of available transport which means your food is still sitting in an environmentally controlled location. The reality with shipping companies is they provide little details to the real status of your stuff. Right now Amazon is hard capping several facilities due to the inability to get stuff out. So expect some stuff to be 1-2 days early (because the facility was running out of work) while other things to not even have a tracking number on your due date.

[cwerdna]

^^^
Ummm... sure looks delayed to me. This is text version of the email I had FedEx send me and reflects basically what's on their site. I removed my city.

I picked Wednesday for Tovala delivery. That was also FedEx's estimated delivery date for awhile. My only choices were Wed and Fri from Tovala.

I'm still waiting for my delivery. By the time I saw the progress the night of 12/8 and the morning of 12/9, I knew it was unlikely to arrive in time on 12/9. Sacramento is quite far a bit over a 2 hour drive away.

Date/Time Activity/Location
12/10/2020 5:28 am On FedEx vehicle for delivery [my city was here], CA
12/10/2020 5:22 am At local FedEx facility [my city was here], CA

12/09/2020 8:31 pm Departed FedEx location SACRAMENTO, CA
12/09/2020 8:57 am Arrived at FedEx location SACRAMENTO, CA

12/08/2020 8:30 pm In transit SPARKS, NV
12/08/2020 12:01 am Left FedEx origin facility NORTH SALT LAKE, UT

12/07/2020 5:51 pm Arrived at FedEx location NORTH SALT LAKE, UT
12/07/2020 Picked up NORTH SALT LAKE, UT

12/04/2020 11:21 am Shipment information sent to FedEx

update: As of 5:13 pm, Pacific time, it's still not here. I sure hope that the box was in a cold environment during some of its transit/storage time.

update 2: The Tovala shipment finally showed up a bit past 7:30 pm. Fortunately, the food was still cold and the 2 gel packs were still solid. I tried the item that had the earliest expiration date (12/14/20): Southwestern Chicken Pot Pie with Freshly Baked Biscuits. Was quite good.

The biscuits would've been impossible w/a microwave. All of Freshly's meals you put in the microwave.

The meat (I received 3 sealed packets of those: 2 chicken breast pieces + 1 steak) for some of the other items seemed to go in the basically individual open-bottom boxes but tended to be kinda floating around under them. I am a bit concerned that they could get punctured in shipment but mine were ok.

Update: Ok, I've had 3 meals, so far. They were all pretty good. I can see why people say that it's worth the slight price premium vs. Freshly.

I just had Parmesan-Crusted Steak with House Steak Sauce & Roasted Ratatouille Rice Pilaf. It's a "premium" meal so it costs extra, in this case $4.99. The steak was surprisingly quite good. I liked the breading and sauce. The rice pilaf was ok.

From the ones I've had so far and glancing thru the directions of my remaining meals, the prep time is minimal. The most minimal is just peeling off the plastic film off the trays, putting them in the oven, scanning the QR code then pressing start. Some have a bit more like: cut open a vacuum sealed piece of meet, put it in a supplied tray and spread something on it.

The tacos (Pork al Pastor Tacos with Pineapple Salsa & Lime-Pickled Veggies) required me to actually put the tortillas in the oven for a bit to warm them afterward and put the filling in the tacos.