Tovala Smart Oven

[rotuts]

Ive finally read the WSJ article

 

i think it was balanced and appropriate for the part of the WSJ that the Murdoch's had not yet destroyed.

 

however :

 

"""    It’s a steam oven—a cooking technology that hasn’t made it into many homes because it requires some expertise to operate. ""

 

my italics 

 

idiots !

 

I operate a CSB all the time , some times after a dash of M.R. !

 

""  Restaurants use steam ovens to bake, cook and reheat food faster, more evenly and (most important) without drying things out. ""

 

so true

 

why there isn't a Combi-0ven at HomeDepot the same dimensions as a regular oven Beets Me !

Edited July 13, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[thurbers]

Cooking Light has jumped on the marketing plan for this oven now that they have an investment deal with Tyson foods. Personally, I don't think reading labels on prepared products is that difficult that I need something with internet access setting the controls for me, not to mention that the more electronics there are in an appliance the less likely it is to survive for what I consider an acceptable length of time. 

 

http://www.cookinglight.com/syndication/tavola-oven-tyson-foods

[fledflew]

I received a couple of emails from Tovala this week.  The first one on Tuesday announced that they will be releasing a version 2 of the steam oven and then a second email today stating that the first production run has already sold out.  Price points are $349 by itself or $249 if you sign up to buy 100 of their prepared meals within the first year of ownership.  Looks like they added convection baking as a feature and possibly some other stuff too - I didn't look hard enough through the webpage to sort everything out.  They also changed the controls a bit - this new version looks much more like a traditional toaster oven now with a series of knobs running vertically down the left side.  

I was an early backer of their first version several years ago but chose to drop out and never ended up with one of the Tovala ovens.  I've been waiting for the Anova oven to materialize for several years now but no news on that product for quite some time.    

[rotuts]

@fledflew

 

thank you for your update.

 

Ive given up on Anova viz and oven.

 

they made their name and a nicely deserved windfall on their circulators.

 

I can't see them investing effort or funds in the oven.

 

its too bad , esp if it were a 1/4 sheet pan oven w a little more head--room

 

say 50 % more.   Id take 33 % even !

[blue_dolphin]

Ditto the thanks on the update.  That newer model oven looks much better and potentially more useful for use outside of their meal plan.  The original can still be seen on Amazon where it's currently listed @ $281

I wonder how they are doing?  With all the meal services out there, many of them struggling, it seems that the purchase of a $250 - $350 oven could be a high hurdle to get new users on board. I'm very much a devotée of the steam oven for cooking and reheating but I'm certainly in the minority.  Plus the meals are $12/meal which seems high if one is comparing them to frozen or refrigerated meals from the grocery store, which is what they look like. 

 

Edited to add that it's interesting that they are now including recipes for home cooking in their app.   

Edited November 16, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[rotuts]

I couldn't tell if the $ 12 was for one meal , or two.

 

and as far as i can tell , the dimensions are very close to the CSO.

 

I emailed ANOVA to ask about their steam oven , if they would ever be making it

 

wonder if they will answer in a meaningful way.

[jasie]

I've wanted an Anova but price has been steep... Ordered a Tovala as their memorial day sale was pretty attractive.  $149 price point with a promise to purchase 6 weeks of meal kits within 6 months.  Haven't seen any reviews etc on here so I've resorted to the fb grp,  reddit etc and since they were mostly positive,  grabbed one.  Hopefully it lives up to its hype.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

44 minutes ago, jasie said:

I've wanted an Anova but price has been steep... Ordered a Tovala as their memorial day sale was pretty attractive.  $149 price point with a promise to purchase 6 weeks of meal kits within 6 months.  Haven't seen any reviews etc on here so I've resorted to the fb grp,  reddit etc and since they were mostly positive,  grabbed one.  Hopefully it lives up to its hype.  

 

 

Please keep us informed.

 

[MetsFan5]

I have my eye on one of these steam ovens. I don’t have a great toaster oven and my air fryer is old. As a single person who at time could just throw things into their oven and scan a recipe card st times, it is tempting. 

Edited February 10 by MetsFan5 (log)

[BeeZee]

My Uncle had one of these Tovola ovens, he liked the convenience but said the meals they provided were very salty.

[MetsFan5]

I have the oven, I am setting it up tomorrow and I have 4 meals to prep and scan

 

[gfweb]

8 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

I have the oven, I am setting it up tomorrow and I have 4 meals to prep and scan

 

 

Full reports with photos, I hope!

[ElsieD]

I see the oven is deeply discounted at the moment.

[rotuts]

there is probably a reason for that

 

over all

 

but is , in n ew condition , it can be uses as a CSO clone

 

might be worth it for the purpose 

 

at an attractive price.

 

@MetsFan5

 

im curious about the salt content   

 

on the order of mg / meal ,   thanks

[MetsFan5]

I will document everything! 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

Excellent .

 

im also interested if the oven will work as a manual steam oven 

 

AKA a CSO.

[MetsFan5]

Here’s the nutritional information for the meal. It’s labeled as being “calorie smart”:

 

 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

excellent source of at least two of the major food groups 

salt and sugar .

 

its working on the third  :  Fat.

[MetsFan5]

Honestly considering I mostly live off delivery food from restaurants, this may be an improvement. 
 

Here’s the box unwrapped:

 

 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

thank you for the above 

 

what do you do to get your meal

 

on your plate?

 

I thought 

 

you got an item delivered.

 

it was scanned by the Instrument  ( the oven )

 

you then placed it in the oven

 

and pushed start.

 

this looks like a ' meal kit "

 

I didn't wish to imply anything one way or another 

 

by the ingredients.

 

thank you for your continued reporting.

Edited April 5 by rotuts (log)

[MetsFan5]

Here is the meal assembled on Dixie’s finest paper plate:

 

 

[MetsFan5]

Here are the prep instructions. I have used meal kits and did wasn’t like one in terms of prep etc:

 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

how did the meal  taste ?

 

would you buy this again ?

 

in  terms of the oven itself 

 

the scan feature doesn't seem to save you much effort 

 

the meal kit might say cook in the CSO  for  X minutes at XYZ F

 

thank you for sharing your experience and taking us step by step 

 

through the oven's us and the Tovela meal kits.

 

I was under the impression that the ' smart ' feature

 

was a unique oven cycle , custom tailored for each kit .

 

but I might be missing something, for sure.

Edited April 5 by rotuts (log)

[cdh]

Is there a way to manually set the oven to do stuff, or do you need to have bought an ingredient kit with  a code to scan to make it do anything?  If so, I wonder whether there is a community devoted to reverse engineering the codes so you can tell it specific stuff to do...

Edited April 6 by cdh (log)

[rotuts]

indeed 

 

does the oven work manually ?