Tovala Family Food Review: Good Food, High in Salt

The garlic fish with risotto was probably the best of the family meals I tried. This little asparagus had a nice texture tossed in garlic butter, but it was still delicious and simple. The salmon was soft and smooth. And the sweet pea risotto had nothing to do but be delicious. There was a lot of cheese, butter, and lemon and it was a song of oil and acid.

The chicken was also a mountain of cheese and salt. It reminded me, pleasantly, of many family meals I had as a child in the 1980s: cheese-stuffed chicken, garlic bread, ricotta-stuffed shells and lots of cheese. The big difference is that there is no way my mother could cook this dish without vegetables.

Toval Program via Matthew Korfhage

And food is where Toval runs a little slow. A serving of chicken broth provides 2,300 milligrams of sodium per serving, pretty much the daily recommended amount for an adult. This also matches the recipe for Stouffer’s meat lasagna. Tovala’s diet also had about 10 times more cholesterol than Stouffer’s.

Many other foods followed a similar practice, adding oil and salt to make the food tastier. The result is that it is more like a rich restaurant meal than most people prepare at home. Whether this is good or bad behavior is up to you.

Only one of the seven dishes I tried failed miserably: I reported the teriyaki chicken dish to my editor as a potential crime in Japan. The dish was a delicious steamed pale soy chicken, with an impossible side of hard-boiled eggs and loose, flavorless broccoli. It felt like the kind of “Japanese” food you’d find at a grocery store in the 90s. But again, this was a big mistake.

The most dangerous issue, in foods designed for the whole family, is high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Many of those who have money and like to eat healthy, low-effort foods like Tovala’s are probably parents with children, or people who are retired. Everyone has their own reason for wanting more food, and less fat and salt.

After a few weeks of experimenting with recipes, I will admit that I was relieved. I was happy to feel my nerves slowly opening up again. Tovala’s cooking example makes me feel better, as a clever way to divide the difference between processed and fresh foods. And the company has proven that it can cook well. It would be nice if they could also cook foods that sound more sustainable.

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