When I first tried out Tovala, a meal-delivery service and smart-oven combo, I was impressed. The meals, all designed to be cooked perfectly with one scan in the matching smart oven, were a breeze to prepare and tasty. They were all single-serving dishes, so they weren’t ideal for families or meal preppers. Now, that’s all changed.
Tovala added family meals to its lineup, with two or four servings, depending on which meal you choose. Like the single-serve meals, they all follow a similar formula: extremely light prep work, metal tins to bake in, and a Tovala smart oven that does the heavy lifting.
My experience taste-testing Tovala’s new family meals
I tried a handful of family meals, including the sweet-and-sour crispy chicken with veggie lo mein, white rice and broccoli in scallion vinaigrette. The portions were generous, and I was able to cook everything in the Tovala oven at once by using two racks. The instructions detail exactly how to place the meals in the oven for even cooking.
The breaded chicken was pre-cooked, but for a separate barbecue chicken meal, paired with cornbread and creamy mac and cheese, the recipe started with raw chicken, which made it taste much fresher.
The cornbread wasn’t pre-cooked either, so this was the freshest family meal I tasted.
Extra packaging isn’t ideal
Although the flavor remained consistent for most of the Tovala family meals I tried, I noticed something that didn’t stand out in the individual meals: There is a lot more packaging. Each serving of sauce, pasta, protein or bread is individually wrapped, and although the metal tins are recyclable, the plastic wrapping is not.
This pasta dish had a whopping 23 wrapped ingredients.
I made meatballs and tortellini with broccoli and garlic bread, for example, and was a bit confused why each bread had to be individually wrapped. I would have much preferred it if all the bread, sauce and pasta were each in one container and if the metal tins were larger. That way, instead of cooking with between four and eight small tins, one or two larger ones would have sufficed.
More veggies, please
Another con I noticed was that while the meals offered generous portions of meats and carbs, the vegetables were not as ample. If you’re serving your family and you have picky kids who don’t eat their greens, maybe the amount of veggies would have been enough for you and your partner, but it definitely didn’t feel like a full four portions to me.
Like with the rest of the menu, the family meals rotate out each week, but despite the addition of family meals, there are still limited vegetarian meals and no vegan meals available, so keep that in mind if you’re a meat-free or plant-based eater. All servings start at $10.
It was nice to be able to utilize the air fryer basket without need for the metal tins for this recipe.
My final thoughts
Tovala still delivers on flavor and convenience, and the oven is currently offered for free with a subscription purchase, making it a great option for easy weeknight dinners. However, I think the family meals could be even better if the packaging were simplified and vegetable portions were increased.
With those tweaks, Tovala could become a go-to for households of four or fewer that need easy, filling meals without sacrificing flavor.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
