We Did The Digging On Tempo For You

By: Deirdre O'Brien

Last Updated: January 2025

Advertising Disclosure

5 minutes scrolling on Instagram or TikTok without somebody giving their opinion on something. We love it, for the most part, but we often find it hard to cut through the noise to discern which products are worth our time investigating.

Even though reviewing and recommending products is our bread and butter, our editors at The Fascination rely on their FYP and online buzz to know what products we want to review ourselves before we can ultimately recommend them.

When we’re trying to make a decision about whether or not a product is worth our time reviewing, we need to know what people are saying. No, we mean what they’re really saying. So when we heard of Tempo, a meal delivery service from one of our favorite meal kits, Home Chef, we immediately wanted to know more.

Tempo is aimed at health-conscious, busy individuals who want low-effort meals that deliver maximum nutrition. Designed by chefs and requiring just 4 minutes to heat and serve, Tempo sounds like the next big player in the space.

From bloggers to Reddit to TikTok–it’s a mess out there, so we’ve dug into Tempo for you. 👇

Signing Up

Like most meal delivery services, Tempo makes it easy to sign up online. People praise the recommended weekly meals and chef-designed cuisine.

“Tempo offers chef-designed recipes to your doorstep, without the frustration of complex cookbooks and lukewarm takeout. It's a rotating menu of more than 20 delicious dishes, from Hawaiian-style pulled pork to farmer's market chicken, that you pop into your oven or microwave to serve for lunch and dinner.”

“I like that Tempo offers meal recommendations. For this, you have to provide some details about your taste preferences when you join. Once you do this, Tempo will recommend weekly meals based on your selections. You can update these in the Taste Profile tab of your account settings. While creating your taste profile, you’ll be offered the opportunity to select your dislikes. Here, you can choose all the foods you’d rather not see on your menu recommendations. But you don’t have to stick to the recommendations — you can edit your order and select the meals of your choice.”

Tempo also lets you see the menu up to 5 weeks in advance, perfect for planners.

"Tempo offers a glimpse at their menu five weeks in advance, which I really appreciate. I love to know what’s coming, and I can plan for the weeks ahead without a lot of effort. Factor, on the other hand, offers just a glimpse at the current week’s menu, and two weeks ahead.”

Delivery

Customer Service

There’s undoubtedly going to be issues here and there when you’re having fresh food delivered; that’s just the nature of the beast. We’re understanding of that, but we also think that any service we’re considering needs to have an A+ customer service team that can rectify any problems that arise. Especially when it’s a subscription service. Our digging found that, as expected, Tempo customers do report the odd shipping or food quality issue, but for the most part, it’s handled quickly and fairly.

The above mentioned missing juice issue was resolved quickly. “To remedy my missing juice issue, I went to Tempo’s customer service page and used the chat option. I was connected to a bot that registered my complaint and connected me to a live person within a minute. This person was warm and personable and refunded me for the juice immediately. Overall, fixing the juice issue took about five minutes, which is stellar. Afterward, I received an email asking me to rate my customer service experience. The email included a photo of my agent, their bio, and an option to recommend that he be rewarded with a long lunch or other benefit.”

“When my colleague encountered an issue with a missing meal, the customer support agent was immediately helpful. They provided a swift credit for the missing item.”

Convenience & Flexibility

Any subscription service needs to be flexible and easy to change at any time. Luckily, Tempo makes it simple to skip a week, pause, or cancel your plan. Everything can be done online in a couple of clicks.

“You can set your Tempo meals to deliver monthly (and order more than 16 meals), or you can do a smaller, weekly size (minimum of four). It's completely up to you and your needs.”

“You can adjust the frequency of your deliveries from weekly to biweekly or monthly. I really like this, as some other service makes you skip weeks manually if you want anything less than weekly. Just like with the other changes, there’s no need to call support. Just use your account to make the desired changes. You can manage your subscription entirely from your Tempo online account. The account page is well-organized with bold, clearly visible tabs, making it really user-friendly. You can also change the delivery frequency and cancel your subscription. Just make sure to remember the cutoff date, which is 12 pm CT each Friday.”

“Tempo has solved all of my problems. From the time I take it out of the fridge to when it’s on my plate is only 4 minutes. It keeps me full for the day with 30+ grams of protein but less than 600 calories.”

Taste

Now to the main event: How do the Tempo meals taste? Everything from Tempo is designed by chefs and delivered fresh, so we expected the reviews to be good.

“My favorite was the Roasted Garlic Filet Mignon With Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, which was the one I’d been most looking forward to. Between the moist, tender beef, fluffy, garlicky mashed potatoes, and generous portion of perfectly cooked green beans, it absolutely met my expectations.”

“One thing that is really important is flavor–I can’t do bland. These meals have so much flavor and are even seasoned perfectly.”

“If you give me anything with barbecue pork, I'm going to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, the BBQ Pork and Farro Bowl was no exception. I'm often wary of reheating meat because it starts to have that off, rubbery texture, but I thought this bowl held its weight. The pork was slightly crispy, like it had seen a few seconds on the grill. Meanwhile, its interior was still tender.”

“The Red Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts, topped with garlic-herb butter, stood out as the best side dish, overshadowing simpler sides like unseasoned green beans. My colleague rated this meal a perfect 10/10.”

“I love steak, but I don't love paying steak prices when I eat at a restaurant or buy meat at my local market. Tempo's Roasted Garlic Filet Mignon rivals your favorite chain steaks, like Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse. The mashed potatoes flawlessly compliment the garlicky topping on the steak. Honestly, you'll probably forget you didn't get $30 takeout from your favorite spot.”

Nutritional Value

OK, so we love the sound of the global recipes and fresh ingredients Tempo has to offer, but are they actually good for you? When doing our deep dive, we saw some criticism of Tempo’s lack of options available for specific dietary restrictions, like keto or gluten free. But overall people seemed to agree that Tempo is a solid option for supporting a healthy lifestyle.

“On the positive side, most meals I tried were considered low-calorie (600 calories or less), included at least a quarter-cup of veggies, and emphasized whole foods, including lean proteins and a variety of veggies and fruit. Being high in protein and fiber while low in added sugar, Tempo’s dishes could promote satiety and possibly aid in weight loss.”

“The nice thing about Tempo meals is that you never have to worry about processed ingredients or high-calorie counts. You can choose from protein-packed, fiber-rich, carb-conscious, and more.”

“Tempo also tries to use the healthiest version of ingredients whenever possible. For instance, its chefs will opt for wholegrain pasta or quinoa instead of similar ingredients that are more refined. Extras on the menu include smoothies, juices, and breakfast and snack options. Tempo was designed to offer quick, fresh, and flavorful meals that support a healthy lifestyle. Most of the recipes contain over 30g of protein and lots of veggies. Also, Tempo often uses healthier substitutes for kitchen staples like rice or pasta.”

How do they square up to the competition?

There’s a zillion food delivery companies out there at this point, but the closest competition to Tempo is definitely Factor. For anyone trying a specialty diet, such as low carb or plant based, Factor provides microwavable, single-serving meals tailored to those requirements. They’re similar to Tempo but do differ in a few key ways:

“Starting at just under $11 per meal, both Tempo and Factor offer fresh and easy meals that take less than 15 minutes to go from my fridge to the table. Factor meals can vary in preparation time depending on the preferred cooking method, taking anywhere from 4-11+ minutes. But Tempo takes it to the next level: ALL of their meals are ready in just 4 minutes, so they’re truly the best option for a busy person like me.”

"In terms of portion sizes, Tempo meals were very generous, possibly the largest in terms of calorie content and overall food quantity compared to other single-serving prepared meals, like those from Factor. On average, Tempo meals contain about 100-200 more calories than those from Factor, making them quite filling.”

Final Verdict

We’re officially excited to try Tempo and think it could be the perfect midweek dinner solution. Great, nutrient-dense meals designed by chefs and delivered to your door? Yep, sounds right up our alley.

“You literally get to reap the benefits of a healthy lifestyle without doing any of the work.”

“I think Tempo works well for busy professionals who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. While it doesn’t cater to specialized diets, the menu is varied enough to keep you interested. Also, most meals are packed with high-quality proteins and veggies. I like that Home Chef is its parent brand. This gives me peace of mind when it comes to ingredient selection and cooking practices.”

“If you’re in the market for chef-crafted meals delivered to your door that are even easier to prepare than a meal kit, Tempo is for you. All in all, I can’t recommend Tempo enough. For easy, no-stress meals that start at just $11 per serving, I couldn’t ask for a better meal option when I just want to collapse on the couch — cooking and dish-doing be damned.”

“Tempo is a viable option for someone who doesn't have an interest in cooking dinner every night but is searching for something more hearty and complex than a McDonald's combo meal. You will receive unique, creative dishes you won't find at your local restaurant. There's no learning curve in heating the meals. If you know how to use a microwave, you can use Tempo, with no issue.”

Update: One of our editors compared Factor to Tempo. Read their January 2025 review here.

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