Inside the Tovala box are the three Tovala meals that you selected. It's a bit different how they are packaged.

Note: Tovala has slightly updated the packaging options for the meals. Each Tovala meal has three main parts: The Protein tin (chicken, beef, salmon, meatballs, etc.) The Rice/Veggie tin The prep/finishing ingredients (the photo below).

On the side of the box, you'll find the instructions for the prep and finishing of each meal. It's super-simple. There's no chopping, cutting or mincing. Here's the example from the meatball dish:

In this Tovala Meatball recipe, simply take off the plastic covers, pour one glaze over the meatballs and lime juice over the broccoli. Put the two tins in the oven and scan the barcode. That's it! No mincing garlic or pickling onions (seemed like every recipe in Hello Fresh or Blue Apron had some ridiculous step in it). The Tovala Smart Oven gets the information from the barcode about how to cook the recipe. The Tovala Oven can Bake, Steam, and Broil. This is where the Tovala App is handy. If you want to check on what the Oven is doing, and how long is left in your recipe, just check the app while the food is cooking:

You don't actually need to use the app to scan a recipe and have the Tovala Oven cook your food. But the Tovala app does give you a notification when your meal is done. It even shows up on your Apple Watch (if you have one). Here's the finished product of the Meatballs (before you ask, yes, we made that and yes it's our photograph - that's how good the food from Tovala looks!):

We're not kidding: this literally took us about 30 seconds to prep and 30 seconds to finish and clean up. The first time we tried a recipe, we thought, "Maybe this is the easiest recipe, others will be more difficult!" Nope - they are all this easy. It was such a relief to be able to make dinner with just a minute of work. The actual recipe cooks for anywhere from 11 - 20 minutes (depending upon what the recipe/food is).

How much is the Tovala Smart Oven? Things get a little complicated here, but hold on: it's worth it! How much is the Tovala Smart Oven? The oven, bought by itself (which we wouldn't recommend) is $299. That's steep - but you can get the oven for as low as $199 if you pair it with a meal plan. You can also save an additional $50 if you use our Tovala Promo Code. There's no reason to pay full price for the oven. If you are, at all, on the fence, buy the oven with the meal plan for $199. Why are we so sure? The Tovala Oven has a no-questions-asked 100 return policy. We were on the fence, too. But we read all the fine print so you don't have to. If you decide, before day 100, you don't like the Tovala Oven or the Tovala meal delivery service, you can get whatever you paid for the oven back - it doesn't matter if you spent $199 or $299. How much are the Tovala Meal Plans? Meals are simply $11.99. Shipping is free with 4+ meals. Is Tovala Worth it? If you like to cook: no.

If you like the IDEA of cooking: yes.

If you like great food without cooking: yes.

If you've tried meal deliver services, but hate the prep and clean-up: yes.

If you get pleasure from oil burns: no.

If you want the cheapest way to eat: no.

If you want a simple way to eat great, fresh food: yes. We think it's well worth it. We're trying to get the most from doing the least. There is no risk in trying it - and we've recommended this to everyone that has come over to our house or everyone that has mentioned Hello Fresh or Blue Apron. It's a much better solution. To get $50 your order, simply use our Tovala Promo Code.

What don't we love about Tovala? Nothing is perfect. Tovala is close! A couple of VERY small things that we would change about Tovala: Right now, we get our meals delivered on Wednesday (it's the only option). Ideally, Tovala would arrive on Monday. There is obviously some supply chain issues they are working on to make this happen. Mr. We Tried It would like a full-keto diet friendly option. They have improved and now offer a "Low Carb" selection, which they say is under 35 g of carbs - but not net carbs. It would be great if they listed net carbs and kept them low. More recipes you can make on your own. There is the Tovala Community site, where there are a couple recipes, but not the number you would hope. It does take some experimentation to make your own recipes. Mr We Tried It attempted to make some melted mozzarella and it took several tries to get the Bake/Broil timing right.

Tovala Oven: First Generation vs. Second Generation What's the difference between the first generation and second generation (size, features, etc.) A couple of key things are different between the first generation Tovala Oven and the newest, second generation Tovala Oven. The biggest is the size and form factor. The origional oven was a hefty 17 inches x 19.75 inches x 14 inches. The new, second generation oven is smaller: 18.5 inches x 12.32 inches x 11.75 inches. It's actually slightly wider, but not as tall or deep. The new oven has actually more controls on it vs. the origional oven. The origional oven required you to use the app a lot to cook. The new and imporved button layout on the second-generation Tovala makes it easier to use without the app. For example, you couldn't simply steam with the old controls. You can directly control steam, for example, on the newest oven: Our first generation is actually still going strong, but we wouldn't hesitate to use the new, second-generation oven if we needed to.

Tovala Review: We test the claims