Overview
Tempo at a Glance
What Is Tempo?
Tempo is a meal delivery service offering meals that don’t need to be cooked at home. Instead, its fresh, chef-designed meals are made to be microwaved and ready to eat in only four minutes. Each week, you get a new menu to pick your meals from, and you can skip, pause, and cancel your subscription at any time.
Due to the convenience of its service and how quickly its meals are ready to eat, Tempo is a great fit for busy professionals or students who don’t have strict dietary restrictions.
Tempo Meal Plans
You can choose to get 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14 meals per week. Each meal is one serving, but you can order twice the amount if you’re ordering for two.
The meals are designed to be eaten for lunch and dinner but it’s ultimately up to you when you eat them. At the moment, Tempo doesn’t carry breakfast options and other add-ons like desserts and snacks.
Tempo Dietary Options and Programs
Tempo caters to three dietary options—calorie-conscious, carb-conscious, and vegetarian. Additionally, you can choose to avoid certain foods, such as pork, beef, poultry, fish, shellfish, mushrooms, tree nuts, peanuts, and sesame.
While Tempo allows you to filter meals according to these three dietary preferences, the brand doesn’t carry many options for those on restrictive diets.
Tempo ensures to always provide nutritionally balanced meals. Each meal with animal protein contains at least 30 grams of protein, while vegetarian meals have at least 15 grams. Additionally, each serving contains one full portion of vegetables.
Calorie-conscious meals have 600 calories or less while the rest are between 600 to 800 calories.
To find the nutritional information of your meals, click on the meal and scroll to the “Nutrition (per serving)” section. Click the “See Full Nutrition Facts” link where you’ll find a picture of all the nutritional facts for that meal. You can also find this information on the sleeve of the meal.
Note that if there are any ingredient changes due to availability, the nutritional and allergen information won’t reflect any adjustments.
How Tempo Works
Tempo offers easy microwaveable meals that take four minutes or fewer to prepare. The service is flexible and allows you to pause, cancel, or skip at any time. Each week, you can choose from a rotating menu of meals and how many servings you’d like to receive.
How to Get Started With Tempo
Getting started with Tempo is quick and easy. To sign up, visit the company website and click the “Get Started” button.
On the next page, you can choose what goal you’d like to achieve by signing up for Tempo. The options available are to 1) save time, 2) eat fresh, and 3) try new meals. Here, you will also choose the ideal composition of your meals. Available options are 1) well balanced, 2) nutrient rich, 3) full of flavor, and 4) protein packed. Finally, you’ll enter your email address and zip code.
Next, you select your dietary preferences and specify what foods you’d like to avoid in your meals.
After you enter your preferences, Tempo will offer you coupon codes you can use on your upcoming orders. If you’re a student, first responder, member of the military, healthcare professional, teacher, or government official, you can get an additional discount after you verify your identity.
Finally, you choose how many meals you’d like to receive per week and which ones.
Tempo Customer Service
Tempo has an FAQ and support page that answers questions on topics like shipping, account management, vouchers, and food safety. For more specific queries, you can contact the Tempo customer support team via chat, phone, and email contact form.
Phone and email support are operated by live agents, while the chat option is operated by a chatbot. You can, however, request a live agent via chat if the virtual assistant can’t help.
You can reach the support team at 872-241-1287 or 855-949-3049 toll free. Live support hours are 9am-6pm CT from Monday to Friday and 10am-2pm CT on Saturday. On Sunday, only chat support is available from 10am to 2pm CT.
How to Cancel or Pause a Tempo Subscription
To cancel your Tempo subscription, go to the account tab in the top right corner of the web page. Click the pause subscription option at the bottom of the tab.
If you're in the app, click “Account” on the bottom right, click “Subscription,’’ and then select “Pause My Subscription” at the bottom.
You must cancel your subscription before Friday 12pm Central Time if you don’t want to be charged for the following week.
You can always reactivate your account after canceling. To start receiving meals again, simply log in and the site will prompt you to reactivate your account before you place your order.
Is There a Tempo App?
There’s a Tempo app for both iOS and Android. It’s straightforward and is a great way to access your account without having to log in every time.
The app lets you choose your meals, set when you want them, and manage your subscription. It also shows you exactly when your meal will arrive and shares tips to make sure you enjoy your food safely.
Tempo Pricing
How Much Does Tempo Cost?
Tempo meal prices range from $11.48 to $15.98 per serving. The more meals you get, the lower the price per serving. Tempo often offers discounts on its meal boxes. For example, the second box discount gives you 50% off on your second box.
Plan
Price per meal
Price per week
Shipping costs
14
11.48
160.72
$10.99
12
11.98
143.76
$10.99
10
12.48
124.80
$10.99
8
12.98
103.84
$10.99
6
13.48
80.88
$10.99
4
15.98
63.92
$10.99
Getting eight meals or more is ideal for a couple as each person can get a few Tempo meals and allow room for other dishes as well. If you’re single, you should opt for six to eight meals to ensure you don’t waste any.
The price for four meals a week is relatively high, especially if you factor in the shipping fee. If you need less than six meals a week, consider getting eight meals and using them for two weeks. Ensure to store them right and eat them before the use-by date.
Optional Add-Ons
Tempo doesn’t currently offer any add-ons to its meals.
Tempo Alternatives
How Does Tempo Compare to Other Meal Delivery Services?
Tempo
HelloFresh
Home Chef
Factor
Price
$11.48-$15.98/meal
$7.99-$9.99/meal
From $8.99/serving
$10.99-$13.49/meal
Dietary Needs
Vegetarian, carb-conscious, calorie-conscious
Low carb, vegetarian pescatarian
Carb-conscious, paleo, gluten-free, pescatarian, Mediterranean, vegetarian, diabetes-friendly
Calorie-conscious, keto, vegan, veggie
No. of Meal Plans
6
2
3
5
Prep Required
Minimal
Low to moderate
Low to moderate
Minimal
Tempo vs HelloFresh
The main difference between Tempo and HelloFresh is the way the food is prepared. Tempo meals come fully cooked and only require microwaving before serving. On the other hand, HelloFresh delivers prepped ingredients that require cooking before serving. Even though Tempo meals cost more per serving, they come fully cooked, saving you time and energy costs.
Tempo vs Home Chef
Home Chef is different from other meal delivery services as it delivers both meal kits and cooked meals. Tempo meals cost about the same as Home Chef’s ready meals but cost more than the meal kits. Both brands cater to a narrow range of dietary preferences, but Home Chef offers a wider variety of meals that you can sort by dietary preference, prep time, and cooking skill level.
Tempo vs Factor
Tempo and Factor both offer fully cooked meals, but Factor emphasizes nutrition more. The latter offers not only meal plans that cater to different nutritional needs, such as the keto diet, but also nutrition coaching. Tempo doesn’t cater to restrictive diets to the same degree, but its meals are made with fresh ingredients and nutritionally balanced to help support a healthy lifestyle.
Bottom Line
Overall, Tempo is great for busy professionals or students looking for convenient meal options. Compared to other popular meal delivery services, I found Tempo’s meals to be the easiest to prepare. Additionally, I think the meals are nutritionally balanced to support a healthy lifestyle. But if you’re a picky eater, you might want to check if it carries your favorite foods before committing.