Tovala Smart Oven Review

About Tovala Smart Oven

Tovala is a meal service brand designed for “insanely busy people.” The company has reinvented the process of home cooking to save you as much time as possible.

With no mess and no prep, Tovala takes the pressure off when cooking with their patented WiFi-connected smart oven. A genius device, it brought them features from notable media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Fast Company, and Tasting Table.

The Tovala Oven commercial also garnered a lot of attention, helping the brand deliver millions of meals and saving consumers over 44,000,000+ minutes in the kitchen.

But here’s the thing: Just because the brand is focused on efficient cooking doesn’t mean they compromise when it comes to the food. The meals are made by world-class chefs^[1] who have worked at Michelin-starred restaurants. So you know these meals are gonna be good.

The meals are also sourced, prepared, and delivered fresh so there is nothing artificial about them, just fresh, raw, and real meals delivered right to your doorstep. Sounds like a winning combo to me, and I’ll get into the fine details in just a few scrolls.

In this Tovala Smart Oven review, I intend to uncover all of the must-knows about the brand and its products. I’ll look into customer reviews, promotions, and more to help you decide if their meals are worth spending your Sunday nights with.

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Pros and Cons

Next up in this Tovala Smart Oven review, you’ll find the brand’s pros and cons. 

Pros

• Versatility: The Tovala Oven offers multiple cooking functions, including baking, broiling, steaming, and toasting. It allows you to prepare a wide variety of dishes using different cooking methods, making it versatile for different cooking needs.
• Convenience: The Tovala Oven is designed to simplify cooking. It features app connectivity, allowing you to control the oven remotely, access recipes, and receive cooking instructions and alerts. This can make cooking more convenient and user-friendly, especially for busy individuals.
• Steam cooking: The steam cooking feature of the Tovala Oven helps retain moisture in the food, resulting in dishes that are moist, tender, and potentially more flavorful. Steam cooking can also be beneficial for health-conscious individuals, as it requires little to no added oil or fat.
• Meal delivery compatibility: The Tovala Oven is designed to work seamlessly with Tovala’s meal delivery service. The oven can scan meal barcodes, automatically adjust cooking settings, and provide optimal cooking results for specific Tovala meals. This integration can be convenient for those who enjoy meal kit services.

Cons

• Limited cooking capacity: The Tovala Oven is relatively compact, which means it has limited cooking capacity compared to traditional ovens. If you need to cook large quantities or larger-sized dishes, the smaller interior space may be a limitation.
• Dependency on app connectivity: While the app connectivity of the Tovala Oven can be convenient, it also means that the oven’s functionality relies on the availability and reliability of the app and internet connection. If there are issues with the app or internet connectivity, it may affect your ability to use certain features.
• Cost: The Tovala Oven is a higher-priced appliance compared to standard ovens or countertop cooking appliances. The initial cost may be a consideration for those on a tighter budget.
• Limited customization: The Tovala Oven is primarily designed to work with Tovala’s meal delivery service, which means it may have limitations when it comes to customization and adapting to individual preferences or recipes outside of the provided ecosystem.

How Does The Tovala Smart Oven Work?

After a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is plan out a dinner and dessert. But yet, I want tasty food, and so I either shut my fridge full of groceries and order takeout or drag myself through cooking.

With Tovala, I can have the best of both worlds and make fast, tasty, and nutritious meals. I’ll get this Tovala Smart Oven review going and walk you through how the Tovala Smart Oven Subscription works: 

1. You will need to get a Tovala Oven Starter Kit. It includes the Tovala Smart Oven plus everything else you need to cook. 
2. Select a meal plan and choose between getting 3 up to 16 meals delivered weekly. You can adjust the order size, skip, or cancel at any time. 
3. Get your weekly deliveries. Choose your meals from a new Tovala menu every week (my favorite part).
4. Allow yourself under a minute of prep. No need to wash or chop! All you need is sixty seconds to assemble everything, and your meal is ready to be cooked. 
5. Scan to cook. Scan and let the magic oven cook each meal perfectly. 
6. Relax and enjoy. Catch up on your favorite show while the meal cooks in twenty minutes or less! 

That’s all there is to it! Simple and efficient. There are no more excuses for not eating healthy with this unique subscription. So, what are you waiting for? Heck, what am I waiting for?

In the next section of this Tovala Smart Oven review, I’ll circle back to the incredible part that is a magic oven that scans food. The future is now, folks.

I’ll explain exactly how the oven and its meals work. Get ready to experience real food cooked at home, without worrying about the prep or the time commitment.  

Tovala Smart Oven Review

With the Tovala Smart Oven, your meals will cook themselves with steam using Scan-to-Cook technology. For all Tovala Oven recipes, the oven does the actual cooking for you so you can focus on our after-work decompress. No standing over the stove or settling for mushy microwave meals—this thing is the real deal.

It’s programmed for heat and steam cooking, and when your meal is cooked to perfection, I learned that it will simply shut off. Say goodbye to worrying about burning things, forgetting your oven is on, or undercooking meals. The meals always turn out exactly how the chefs curated it. I think that’s kind of nuts, but so, so brilliant.

Here’s where things get heated. The Tovala Gen 2 scans meals sent by the brand but it can also cook 850+ grocery combinations! Throw in your favorite frozen meal products, numerous breakfast and pizza brands, and more.

“This product is so versatile. I can’t wait to replace my toaster oven. I have had the opportunity to try many of these meals and every last one has been delicious,” one reviewer said. “It’s like being in a 5 star restaurant only you can wear your sweat pants.“

Pop an Eggo, Pop Tart, or DiGiorno pizza in this oven and let it do the rest. There is nothing this little oven can’t do with bake, steam, air fry, roast, broil, toast, dehydrate, and reheat functions. It’s like 8 cooking products in 1!

Worried about adding another appliance to your kitchen counter? Don’t be. The Tovala Oven measures 18.5 x 12.32 x 11.75 inches, and while it’s compact, it’s big enough to fit a 10” pizza, large chicken, or 4 Tovala Meal trays.

So how does it work its magic? The oven needs a 2.4GHz WiFi network connection and a smartphone to cook. Install the Tovala mobile app, and use the Tovala Oven setup and Tovala Oven manual if you need help making sure everything is ready for use. 

When you’re all set up, cook anything you want! Including recipes you have already mastered using a conventional oven or toaster. Whether you want to toast bread, make mini pizzas, or bake cookies, this oven can handle it.

You can also access a library full of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert on the brand’s app. The Tovala chefs add recipes to the app frequently, so you can make something new and exciting in the Tovala Smart Oven every night. 

How Much Is Tovala Smart Oven?

The Tovala oven price is regularly $299. But get this—right now, when you order your first meal delivery, you can get it for $99. That’s a $200 discount.

The Tovala Oven cost for the Starter Pack includes the oven and everything else you need to cook. You’ll still need to add meals here though. Meal prices start as low as $10/portion.

While the price of meals depends on the number of meals you plan to have delivered each week, the costs of meals break down to approximately $12 per portion if you get a good variety of dishes.

For a more comprehensive idea of Tovala prices, I’ve compiled a range into this handy list:

• 3 meals for $35
• 4 meals for $47
• 6 meals for $71
• 8 meals for $95
• 10 meals for $119
• 12 meals for $143
• 16 meals for $191

Tovala Smart Oven Reviews: What Do Customers Think?

In this section of my Tovala Smart Oven review, I’ll find out precisely what customers honestly think of the brand. First, let’s look at its overall ratings.

• Sitejabber: 4.5/5 stars
• Facebook: 4/5 stars
• Trustpilot: 2.6/5 stars

Next, a review by PCMag gave Tovala a 4/5 star review based on the brand’s efficiency, design, and performance. The review labeled the brand’s pros to be:

• Many cooking modes (steam cooking included)
• Multi-step cooking cycles that are easy to program
• Reliable broiling and steaming systems
• Tasty meal kits available for purchase

The PCMag review concluded that:

“Tovala Steam Oven is an impressive little countertop appliance. Its multiple cooking modes and extensive, multi-step cooking programs make it incredibly useful … Tovala’s prefab meal kits are also excellent and offer some very sophisticated flavors.”

It’s valuable to read what Tovala’s meals taste like, but let’s head over to the Better Business Bureau to see how the brand does with customer service. The BBB has awarded Tovala an B- rating meaning it responds to and resolves issues in a timely manner.

In comparison, Tovala reviews on the brand’s site give 4.6/5 stars out of 8,286 ratings. 75% of those are 5-stars. One Tovala Smart Oven review read:

“I kinda can’t believe it. The meals come out fresh and taste great. Even reheating food using their reheat option that uses a combination of magic (steam, bake, etc) makes left overs taste WAY better than they should.”

I found it quite challenging to track down a significant number of collective customer reviews apart from the official website. The only “comparable” place was on the official Tovala Facebook, where 295 customers gave the brand 4/5 stars. 

Overall, customers are pleased with the: 

• Efficiency
• No prep-work
• Variety of menus
• Fresh ingredients
• High-quality
• Delicious tasting food
• Lack of cleaning
• Ease-of-use 

One positive review from the Tovala site complemented the brand on the variety of meals and recyclable packaging:

“I am so much happier with mealtime! Great tasting food with easy prep. I look forward to picking out my meal choices from a nicely varied menu. Excited to try my meals when they are delivered. I’m glad so much of the packaging can be recycled.” 

Another review from Facebook explains how Tovala has saved her time with a hectic work schedule:

“Fantastic meals. At least 90% of them are flat-out scrumptious. I LOVE to cook, but working 80+ hours in an average week, I just don’t have time to cook like I want to. … This is a total game-changer!” 

Though the majority of what I found was positive, like, really positive, I did run into a few complaints too. Some say the food is either too salty or too bland, while others mention missing meals from their order.

But while these issues have happened, I was happy to learn that they’re not at all common for Tovala. Overall, customers say that the meals are full of flavor, the service is on time, and the oven is curiously smart.

Is Tovala Smart Oven Worth It?

So, what is the verdict of this Tovala Smart Oven review? Ultimately, I believe the brand is worth buying from. I think it’s perfect for individuals who have limited time on their hands and who just want to come home and relax with a home-cooked meal.

It could even be ideal for those who simply do not enjoy cooking and instead want something quick, easy, and delicious prepared for them without any of the prep work or cleaning afterward. 

Tovala food is made from high-quality fresh ingredients and planned by reputable chefs. On top of spending hundreds of dollars on groceries every month, you need to wash, chop and prepare your meals. The Tovala Oven meal cost is more time-efficient. 

If you search for Tovala Oven reviews on Reddit, you’ll find plenty of positive reviews that will further cancel out any negativity. 

Final thoughts: If you hate cooking or you’re too busy to bother, I think Tovala is for you.

Tovala Smart Oven Promotions & Discounts 

If you missed it earlier in this Tovala Smart Oven review, the brand has an amazing deal going on right now offering $200 off the Tovala oven. Need more accessories for your oven? Orders over $35 ship for free.  

Alternatives

If you’re looking for alternatives to the Tovala smart oven, there are several options available on the market. Here are a few alternatives to consider:

1. Breville Smart Oven: Breville offers a range of smart ovens that provide similar functionality to the Tovala Oven. The Breville Smart Oven series includes features like convection baking, broiling, toasting, and more. These ovens also have intuitive controls and various cooking presets.
2. Instant Pot Smart WiFi: The Instant Pot Smart WiFi is a multi-functional cooker that combines pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, steaming, and more. It offers app connectivity for remote control and access to recipes. While not specifically an oven, it provides versatile cooking capabilities.
3. June Oven: The June Oven is another smart oven that offers multiple cooking functions, including baking, roasting, broiling, dehydrating, and air frying. It features app connectivity, built-in camera for food recognition and monitoring, and precision cooking technology.

FAQ

Are Tovala meals healthy? 

Tovala is a healthier option than traditional microwavable meals and takeout. The meals are made with fresh ingredients and I really like the balance of options the brand has on their menu.

I discovered healthy dishes such as the Chicken & Sweet Potato Burrito Bowl as well as indulgent picks like Buffalo Chicken Flatbread—and you can even filter recipes by diet preference of categories including calorie smart or carb conscious. Overall, I’d say the recipes lean to the healthier side.

Is the Tovala oven an air fryer? 

The Tovala steam oven is an 8-in-1 oven. Meaning it can bake, steam, air fry, roast, broil, toast, dehydrate, and reheat.

How long do Tovala meals last? 

Tovala meals typically last between 3-7 days. Be mindful of the “Enjoy Before” date on your meals. Be sure to enjoy seafood dishes first.

Can you cook two Tovala meals at once? 

You can cook two of the same Tovala meals at once. But you cannot cook two different meals simultaneously. 

Can you cook Tovala meals in a regular oven? 

The meals are designed to be cooked perfectly using a specific cook cycle that can only be found in the Tovala Smart Oven. However, hypothetically speaking, the meals could be cooked in your regular convection oven. 

How much is Tovala? 

The Tovala Smart Oven is normally $299–but you can get it for $99 right now. Meals start at $10/portion.

How do I cancel my Tovala Smart Oven subscription?

If you want to cancel, go to your account and use your Tovala Oven login.

1. Go to your account’s settings 
2. Go to your Meal Plan 
3. Select Cancel. (Note: Meals need to be canceled the Wednesday before you’re scheduled to receive them.)

What is Tovala Smart Oven’s Shipping Policy?

Tovala only ships to the contiguous United States. The price of shipping for six meals or more is free. If you order three to four meals, shipping costs $5. The brand offers two choices for weekly meal delivery days. 

Currently, only customers living closest to Chicago will receive meals on Mondays. For all other customers and depending on your location, you will either have Tuesday or Thursday deliveries available or Wednesday or Friday deliveries. 

What is Tovala Smart Oven’s Return Policy?

You have up to 100 days to decide if Tovala is the right fit for you. If you are unsatisfied during this time, Tovala will give you a full refund, no questions asked. 

Contact Customer Support at [email protected] to get the return process started. Returns are always free, and the brand will pay for return shipping.

There is also a Tovala warranty on the oven for one year. It covers workmanship and materials under regular home use for one year from the original purchase date. 

How to Contact Tovala Smart Oven

I hope you enjoyed this Tovala Smart Oven review! You can contact Tovala’s customer service in two ways:  

• Email: [email protected] 
• Live Chat on their website  

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