I tried Tovala’s smart oven for two weeks to see if it could make dinner as easy as the company promises. It won’t replace the quality of a good home-cooked meal, and some dishes turned out better than others, but it’s hard to beat the convenience on days when you absolutely don’t want to cook.

This was exactly the challenge that Tovala co-founder and CEO David Rabie aimed to address. “The idea originated from my own struggles in business school. I was often busy and sought a solution as convenient as takeout or frozen meals, yet still wanted the experience of a genuine home-cooked dish,” Rabie told TechCrunch via email.

The countertop-sized oven follows the cooking instructions automatically, switching temperatures and cooking modes throughout the process. It can bake, broil, air fry, toast, and reheat. The regular oven costs £299, while the Smart Oven Pro costs £349 and adds a steam function.

The meals aren’t exactly cheap, though. Single-serving meals start at £13.99, and two-serving meals start at around £8.99 per serving — £17.98 total — plus a £10.99 shipping fee. The company also recently launched family-sized meals, starting at £35.96. Unlike meal-delivery rivals like HelloFresh, Tovala is essentially betting that you’re willing to pay for the added convenience of having most of the cooking handled for you.

Not every dish had that problem, though. One of my favorites was the pineapple shrimp stir-fry. The rice was well cooked, and the sauce had plenty of flavour. It wasn’t necessarily something I’d rave about compared with a great restaurant meal, but it was easy, satisfying, and required very little effort.