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

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).

GerryAZ said:

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).

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

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.

cwerdna said:

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.

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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.

cwerdna said:

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.

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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.

^^^
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.

I just mistakenly disapproved a post here because I didn't remember that we actually do have a topic on these meal services - it looked like Spam to me. If the poster can see this, please resubmit the post. The user name is something like sarahwhite...

cwerdna said:

Anyone subscribe? Ever since I had to WFH due to COVID-19, I did start and am on/off with Freshly. Their meals are kinda pricey (over $10 each if you get 6 meals) and some are good while some are not good/not worth it.

There is https://www.tovala.com/ which requires you buy their special smart oven that bakes and steams. Supposedly, their oven is $299 but they're running a Black Friday deal where their oven is $99 if you commit to ordering 6 weeks of meals within the next 6 months.

Any others people have tried like/dislike? I'm not real interested in meal kit services where there's significant prep time (e.g. Blue Apron). I've seen some people complain on TiVocommunity (for example) that the prep time is WAY longer than Blue Apron claims. I don't have time for that.

I suspect I will be still working from home until at least mid-2021. When I was working in the office, we had free lunch and we eventually got some pretty good choices and variety.

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Currently looking for a "hopefully" short term solution of a month or so for decent options. Plant based if possible. I tried Blue Apron and its simply took much work.

Have you found something decent?

https://www.freshly.com/ is dead. Tovala to me was still the best but it's pricey.

I stopped all of this long ago as I now just go into work every weekday and have been doing so for maybe a year or so now (have to dig thru emails). We have free food at work. The problem w/these meal services is that they (understandably) need too much lead time. I need to place orders or skip/decline well ahead of time. Then, once they arrive, they don't last long before expiring, so I feel trapped at home having to either eat the meals otherwise some will go bad, wasting $.

https://www.cookunity.com/ is ok and better than Freshly. Dave, later tonight, I can DM you a referral link. It should provide some benefits for you.

I am happy with the Tovala system. I do need to plan ahead for orders now that I am not fully WFG (work from garage). The meals I typically buy will keep at least a full week after receiving (in my refrigerator which is set to keep the temperature just above freezing). I have delivery set for the end of the week so I can use some meals over the weekend if I have a last minute out of town office trip scheduled for the next week. I get 6 meals in a shipment so I can use them either for lunch if WFG or for dinner in the evenings so I can easily use them over the course of 2 weeks even if I go out of town.

I select "skip meal delivery" for several weeks in advance so that I don't inadvertently get deliveries that I may not be able to use. If I know that I will be in town, then I place an order on Wednesday for delivery the following Thursday. The meals are cost effective compared to fast food or grocery store shopping (since store packaging quantities are generally more than one person can eat before spoilage).

Due to needing the oven, the Tovala system would not be cost effective for a short-duration need for packaged meals.

GerryAZ said:

I am happy with the Tovala system. I do need to plan ahead for orders now that I am not fully WFG (work from garage). The meals I typically buy will keep at least a full week after receiving (in my refrigerator which is set to keep the temperature just above freezing). I have delivery set for the end of the week so I can use some meals over the weekend if I have a last minute out of town office trip scheduled for the next week. I get 6 meals in a shipment so I can use them either for lunch if WFG or for dinner in the evenings so I can easily use them over the course of 2 weeks even if I go out of town.

I select "skip meal delivery" for several weeks in advance so that I don't inadvertently get deliveries that I may not be able to use. If I know that I will be in town, then I place an order on Wednesday for delivery the following Thursday. The meals are cost effective compared to fast food or grocery store shopping (since store packaging quantities are generally more than one person can eat before spoilage).

Due to needing the oven, the Tovala system would not be cost effective for a short-duration need for packaged meals.

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Do you use the oven for anything else other than the meals? Right now I can get it for essentially the cost of a cheaper end toaster oven (which I don't currently have) so could extend beyond this current issue I am having with work.

FYI; Wasn't holding my breath as date has moved from mid May (predicted over a year ago) to a hard August 28 launch date.

But the work woes continue. This weekend, we are shutting down two systems to intertie the new system in which means a TON of overtime before and after to compensate. My only saving grace; Sunday I work so will be very light with a lot of cleanup/maintenance being done. Hope to put in a less than 8 hour day. A nice change from the 57 hour week I just finished

The oven would be a good all around countertop appliance. It will toast, bake, broil, and even has a sort of steam cycle (evaporates water into the oven to add moisture to whatever is cooking). I don't use it for much other than cooking the Tovala meals because I have it at my workshop garage instead of at home.

GerryAZ said:

The oven would be a good all around countertop appliance. It will toast, bake, broil, and even has a sort of steam cycle (evaporates water into the oven to add moisture to whatever is cooking). I don't use it for much other than cooking the Tovala meals because I have it at my workshop garage instead of at home.

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Thanks for that. Makes it very tempting since it can be used for "regular" food. With the sale price of $49 it is basically the cost of a low end toaster oven which I don't currently have.

Settings are not as convenient to use with "regular food" as a normal toaster oven, but it would probably become "standard procedure" after a few days. You select the function (bake, broil, steam, reheat), temperature, and time individually and then press start. It might take a combination of broil and bake settings to get desired results for toasting. The steam setting does help with heating items like cinnamon rolls that are a little old (drying out).

Reheat is a good basic function. I called Tovala customer service when internet service at my garage was down for several days to find out how to cook the meals since the oven could not access their servers. I was told that I could select the reheat function with time about what was shown on the recipe card (ultimately needed a few extra minutes). That worked OK, but the meals were not cooked quite as well as with the programmed sequence.

As long as you have a WiFi and Internet connection, the oven can also read QR or bar codes on some packaged foods and get programmed cooking settings from the Tovala servers. The database for that is expanding.

GerryAZ said:

I called Tovala customer service when internet service at my garage was down for several days to find out how to cook the meals since the oven could not access their servers. I was told that I could select the reheat function with time about what was shown on the recipe card (ultimately needed a few extra minutes). That worked OK, but the meals were not cooked quite as well as with the programmed sequence.

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An oven that doesn't work correctly without an internet connection? :shock: :roll:

WetEV said:

GerryAZ said:

I called Tovala customer service when internet service at my garage was down for several days to find out how to cook the meals since the oven could not access their servers. I was told that I could select the reheat function with time about what was shown on the recipe card (ultimately needed a few extra minutes). That worked OK, but the meals were not cooked quite as well as with the programmed sequence.

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An oven that doesn't work correctly without an internet connection? :shock: :roll:

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Well, as I understand it, many meals require more than one cooking mode. This is something that done manually, would be a pita especially when my ultimate requirement is that it be cooked and hot. So yeah, put it in, set a "one size fits all" timer and come back sometime after the "ding"

Still, the oven should have several preprogrammed multi-modes, with times for them listed on the food containers.

LeftieBiker said:

Still, the oven should have several preprogrammed multi-modes, with times for them listed on the food containers.

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For Tovala, each meal comes w/a card with a QR code + prep instructions. Scanning the code using the oven's reader "programs" it to go through the sequence that's specified. Nowhere on the meals or the cards does it say how many minutes are spent baking, broiling, steaming, etc. nor the sequence.

https://www.tovala.com/faq has this Q&A:
"Can I cook the Tovala Meals in my own convection oven at home?

Tovala Meals are designed to cook perfectly through a unique combination of the Tovala Smart Oven's cooking modes. While our meals can be cooked in a normal convection oven, we do not have specific cooking instructions, nor can we guarantee dish results when prepared in a convection oven.

If choosing your home convection oven, use
to learn about the safe minimum internal temperatures required by the USDA and FDA. (Scroll down to the "Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures" section towards the bottom.) You can verify internal temperature by utilizing a food thermometer."

IIRC, you can use their app to create your own "programs" of sequences you want the oven to go through.

LeftieBiker said:

I just mistakenly disapproved a post here because I didn't remember that we actually do have a topic on these meal services - it looked like Spam to me. If the poster can see this, please resubmit the post. The user name is something like sarahwhite...

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Oh, I already forgot what I wrote. As far as I can remember it was something related to HelloFresh, which is known for its relatively simple and quick-to-prepare recipes. They provide pre-measured ingredients, reducing prep time significantly. If you're looking to enjoy meals like those with Alfredo sauce, HelloFresh could be a suitable option for you.

Their recipe offerings cover a wide range of cuisines, including dishes that feature alfredo sauce as a creamy and indulgent component. With HelloFresh, you'll receive step-by-step instructions that make it easy to recreate restaurant-quality Alfredo dishes in the comfort of your home office. The convenience of having the right amount of ingredients, including the alfredo sauce, already prepared and ready to use can save you valuable time during your busy work-from-home schedule.

Whether you're a fan of classic fettuccine alfredo or you're looking to explore creative variations, HelloFresh's menu can cater to your preferences. By delivering pre-portioned ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, HelloFresh ensures that you can savor a delicious alfredo sauce without the hassle of extensive preparation. This can be a game-changer for those seeking a convenient and flavorful dining experience while juggling work responsibilities.

I'm truly sorry about that.