Tovala - The Keurig of Food

[Ynari]

http://www.businessinsider.com/tovala-will-replace-every-cooking-appliance-you-own-2016-3

Apparently, a programmable microwave-oven-steamer-broiler device went up on Kickstarter today. That, in and of itself, is actually pretty cool. I'm all for multifunctional devices. If only it weren't so interlocked with your smartphone (if wifi goes out, you lose half the functionality.) it'd seem really nifty.

What gets me is the "Keurig" like food delivery plan. Single-serving prepackaged food items can only be expensive and wasteful.

[MgoSam]

What gets me is the "Keurig" like food delivery plan. Single-serving prepackaged food items can only be expensive and wasteful.

True, but it may be cheaper and healthier than eating out or frozen dinners.

[Sylly]

Looks like an interesting technology, but I also don't like the 'smart' aspect of it. Not a fan of things depending on the internet and/or a smartphone when it doesn't need to be...

[MandyM]

I read an interesting article yesterday about how some things are blasted for being wasteful (specifically addressing pre-peeled oranges that Whole Foods was selling), but they actually help those with disabilities. The author of the article lacks dexterity in her hands and is incapable of peeling an orange. Some things (chopping vegetables) are dangerous for her to attempt. I had never considered the accessibility that those types of products provide and I now have a completely new perspective on things I used to see as lazy and wasteful.

[ormaybemidgets]

I read an interesting article yesterday about how some things are blasted for being wasteful (specifically addressing pre-peeled oranges that Whole Foods was selling), but they actually help those with disabilities. The author of the article lacks dexterity in her hands and is incapable of peeling an orange. Some things (chopping vegetables) are dangerous for her to attempt. I had never considered the accessibility that those types of products provide and I now have a completely new perspective on things I used to see as lazy and wasteful.

I read something similar about how a lot of those "as seen on tv" products are actually for people with disabilities. I think one example was that the Snuggie was for people in wheelchairs and another example was for the gopher/grabber.

[cube.37]

http://www.businessinsider.com/tovala-will-replace-every-cooking-appliance-you-own-2016-3

Apparently, a programmable microwave-oven-steamer-broiler device went up on Kickstarter today. That, in and of itself, is actually pretty cool. I'm all for multifunctional devices. If only it weren't so interlocked with your smartphone (if wifi goes out, you lose half the functionality.) it'd seem really nifty.

What gets me is the "Keurig" like food delivery plan. Single-serving prepackaged food items can only be expensive and wasteful.

Expensive indeed..Below in the comments section, I found a comment from the founder (or someone posing as the founder):
David Rabie on Mar 8, 11:35 AM said:
@Old-timer: Meals will cost between $10 - $15

That's $10-$15 per person per meal. Family of 2 adults? $20-$30/dinner. Imagine the costs of feeding a family of 2 adults and 2 teenage boys..

[bobechs]

I looked at the food they are offering and it reminds me of airplane food, from back in the era when airlines offered in-flight food.

The younger folks hereabouts won't even know what I'm talking about, but that's okay...

[Vanguards and Lentils]

Intrigued that you can cook everything all together, and have it taste good. They would avoid one of the huge negatives of the Keurig machine by having a good disposal/recycling plan. Even though this would be way too expensive for me, it might be an improvement for people who would otherwise eat at restaurants/order delivery, and can't be persuaded to cook for themselves. Like TV dinners for the rich.

[WildJager]

If you're going to go through the effort of shuffling around the ingredients during the different stages of "cooking", and then clean up anyway after your meal (minimal I suppose)... why not just cook regularly?  The repeating cost and waste alone should be a red flag for most... but as we saw with Keurig, it's not. 

The tilt on this being useful for disabled people is interesting, but I'm not buying it.  There are plenty of services such as "Meals on Wheels" that deliver to disabled people which amounts to the same thing.  Probably for much cheaper, especially when insurance is involved.  I doubt any insurance company will fund this considering it's ridiculously expensive.

[Felicity]

http://www.businessinsider.com/tovala-will-replace-every-cooking-appliance-you-own-2016-3

Apparently, a programmable microwave-oven-steamer-broiler device went up on Kickstarter today. That, in and of itself, is actually pretty cool. I'm all for multifunctional devices. If only it weren't so interlocked with your smartphone (if wifi goes out, you lose half the functionality.) it'd seem really nifty.

What gets me is the "Keurig" like food delivery plan. Single-serving prepackaged food items can only be expensive and wasteful.

Expensive indeed..Below in the comments section, I found a comment from the founder (or someone posing as the founder):
David Rabie on Mar 8, 11:35 AM said:
@Old-timer: Meals will cost between $10 - $15

That's $10-$15 per person per meal. Family of 2 adults? $20-$30/dinner. Imagine the costs of feeding a family of 2 adults and 2 teenage boys..

I can eat out down the road at a fantastic restaurant for cheaper than that!

So...this is basically just a convection oven and meal plan combined? With some added smart phone interaction? It's an interesting idea potentially (for non-mustachians of course)...but the technology doesn't seem that new or impressive.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/tovala-will-replace-every-cooking-appliance-you-own-2016-3

Apparently, a programmable microwave-oven-steamer-broiler device went up on Kickstarter today. That, in and of itself, is actually pretty cool. I'm all for multifunctional devices. If only it weren't so interlocked with your smartphone (if wifi goes out, you lose half the functionality.) it'd seem really nifty.

What gets me is the "Keurig" like food delivery plan. Single-serving prepackaged food items can only be expensive and wasteful.

Just get a convection oven, then. :)

[RosieTR]

For people who want to eat healthy but don't have time to cook. Why, because they are working? And I sort of fail to see how this is vastly better than take out, if it's $10-15/meal. All the stuff they showed could be purchased for far less than that at a grocery store (like the broccoli-they have pre-cut broccoli at the grocery store! And pre-stuffed chicken breasts as well!) and every single thing they listed could be cooked on my stovetop. Probably on my camping stove, even!

What this is, is a diet plan. People have trouble portioning out, so this is like those pre-portioned diet plan foods, plus a gimmicky appliance and requirement for a smartphone.

I agree-incredibly anti-Mustachian!

[FINate]

Ok, so I'll play the part of devil's advocate a bit :)

I like the idea of a combined broiler, steamer, oven, microwave, and toaster. One appliance, less space.

Agree that the standard meals are too expensive. However from what I can tell they will allow consumers program their own recipes, which I think is very cool. I do like to program things :) You could prep and program custom meals 1 day a week for the entire week. This would cut down on the cost and still make it very quick and easy to do meals. I would actually consider pre-preparing larger numbers of meals, freezing them, and then thawing in the fridge the day before use. Ideally they (or someone) will come up with reusable contains.

[MsPeacock]

Those do look like airline meals. And tiny - tiny tiny serving of broccoli that probably costs <$.50 at the grocery store.  It doesn't involve much work to buy a head of broccoli and steam it in the microwave (or even a precut package of broccoli florets, or a bag of frozen broccoli). Arguably it requires no more work than using this stupid contraption. And it doesn't require a stupid foil pan and overnight airplane delivery.

I'm obviously not the target audience for this thing, nor for the Keurig, or any of those crazy overpriced meal delivery plans (blue plate or whatever). I figure these are for people who have paid absolutely zero attention to how much food at the grocery store costs (very little) vs. these stupid business (a lot).

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Why not just get a toaster oven or a small microwave, and prepare frozen single-serving food? Even those overpriced diet meal plans such as Jenny Craig would be cheaper.

It's bad enough that my toaster has electronic parts.

[With This Herring]

Ok, so I'll play the part of devil's advocate a bit :)

I like the idea of a combined broiler, steamer, oven, microwave, and toaster. One appliance, less space.

Agree that the standard meals are too expensive. However from what I can tell they will allow consumers program their own recipes, which I think is very cool. I do like to program things :) You could prep and program custom meals 1 day a week for the entire week. This would cut down on the cost and still make it very quick and easy to do meals. I would actually consider pre-preparing larger numbers of meals, freezing them, and then thawing in the fridge the day before use. Ideally they (or someone) will come up with reusable contains.

If you read through all the comments on the article, you will find this gem at the end:

Gunko on Mar 9, 2:03 AM said:
Bull Shi!! this has been made an marketed by Sharp in Japan years ago!
http://jewelpie.com/product-review-sharp-healsio-steam-oven-for-healthy-cooking/

And, indeed, a version of this already exists for the US market, though a 2013 Amazon review say it was been recalled.  Sharp still includes it on their website, though I had to search via an outside engine.
Amazon Link: Sharp 1 Cu. Ft. 3-in-1 Microwave Oven with Steamwave and Grill Functions - AX-1100S

However, it looks like there are a lot of convection/steam countertop ovens out there, just without the microwave function, and none require a smart phone!

Expensive indeed..Below in the comments section, I found a comment from the founder (or someone posing as the founder):
David Rabie on Mar 8, 11:35 AM said:
@Old-timer: Meals will cost between $10 - $15

That's $10-$15 per person per meal. Family of 2 adults? $20-$30/dinner. Imagine the costs of feeding a family of 2 adults and 2 teenage boys..

So, I just thought "oh wow, $40-$60 per meal to feed four people" and then realized that you specified teenage boys, who I'm sure would need at least two helpings each!

[FINate]

However, it looks like there are a lot of convection/steam countertop ovens out there, just without the microwave function, and none require a smart phone!

Interesting. Though I would consider smart phone integration a plus if it means I can keep a database of programs for my own recipes - again, not interested in the food delivery service they're pushing - too expensive. But, meh, in the end phone integration's not a huge feature since manually entering should be easy.

I should add that I'm also interested in steam + oven because I bake a lot of bread and getting steam in the oven for the first 5-10 min of baking is important for the crust. With my standard oven I pour boiling water in a cast iron skillet in the oven, or bake in a closed dutch oven at first to achieve the same thing. Most commercial bakeries have ovens with steam for this purpose. Having a reasonably priced combo for the home would be nice and an added microwave function would free up space in the kitchen. There are prosumer versions of steam + oven already on the market, but they are rather expensive ($3k to $5k).

Though I wonder now how many of these combo appliance things have issues? Maybe it's one of those cases where you get what you pay for. I'm no luddite, but also not an early adopter after being burned one too many times. I'll wait to see if they can work out the kinks.

[With This Herring]

FINate, would this do for you?  $300 at the moment, and all excellent reviews.
Cuisinart CSO-300N Combo Steam/Convection Oven with New Steam Clean Feature

And, older version, $240 at the moment, and still really good reviews (and many more reviews total):
Cuisinart CSO-300 Combo Steam/Convection Oven, Silver

If you search "steam oven" on Amazon, it will show you other choices, though I'm guessing that some aren't really steam ovens...

This is the sort of thing where I would shop around and check the price history on camelcamelcamel, though.

[golden1]

This is really intriguing as an appliance, provided the ability to make your own meals is really a true feature.  $10-15 per person per meal is insane - I might as well just get take out every night at that point. 

I used to do something years ago called "Dream Dinners" where you would go to a facility, prep your meal using their ingredients, then throw it in the freezer to reheat later.  It was kind of like the idea of having a plan ahead meal prepping day, but you didn't have to buy all the ingredients yourself or do any planning other than pick the meals you wanted.  It cut the time down dramatically but was more expensive.  Still, I could make 6-8 large meals to feed my family for about $150 or so, and it took about 2 hours.  Many times we split those meals too so it was usually a month's worth of dinners.  The meals were hit or miss.  Some were delicious and others just fair.

It seems like they have moved from that model to the whole Blue Apron/Plated deal where you do all the prep work at home and it costs mega $$$$.  I don't get the appeal except that maybe it is a living tutorial for millennials that didn't learn how to cook from their parents. 

[FINate]

FINate, would this do for you?  $300 at the moment, and all excellent reviews.
Cuisinart CSO-300N Combo Steam/Convection Oven with New Steam Clean Feature

And, older version, $240 at the moment, and still really good reviews (and many more reviews total):
Cuisinart CSO-300 Combo Steam/Convection Oven, Silver

If you search "steam oven" on Amazon, it will show you other choices, though I'm guessing that some aren't really steam ovens...

This is the sort of thing where I would shop around and check the price history on camelcamelcamel, though.

Those might work, though they are on the small side, more like a toaster oven. One of the things I like about the kickstarter appliance is, from the few pictures at least, it looks to be closer to a conventional oven size than a toaster oven.

[Anje]

For people who want to eat healthy but don't have time to cook. Why, because they are working? And I sort of fail to see how this is vastly better than take out, if it's $10-15/meal. All the stuff they showed could be purchased for far less than that at a grocery store (like the broccoli-they have pre-cut broccoli at the grocery store! And pre-stuffed chicken breasts as well!) and every single thing they listed could be cooked on my stovetop. Probably on my camping stove, even!

What this is, is a diet plan. People have trouble portioning out, so this is like those pre-portioned diet plan foods, plus a gimmicky appliance and requirement for a smartphone.

I agree-incredibly anti-Mustachian!

We all said exactly the same about those keurig cups, though (because making coffee is very easy, after all). And yet they made it into nearly every house before they got tossed out last fall and replaced with the good oldfashioned coffemaker again. Most people probably had to go buy one because they tossed out the old one 5 years ago.

[Cromacster]

I have bought myself a new Tovala smart oven and It's great. Frankly, I got tired of the Hello Fresh meal prep (and cleanup!). With the Tovala, there’s no mess, no prep and you get an amazing meal, too! But the only problem is it has a small handful of recipes built in.

Do you know what forum you're in?

1 post and it's about tovala, probably a tovala employee.

If you are a tavala rep, please be upfront and tell us.  Then try to explain why we should be interested in the product.