September 3, 2025 at 6:35 pm

He Took Store Bought Meals, Repackaged Them As Homemade, And Turned The Hustle Into A Profitable Business

by Benjamin Cottrell

microwave oven in kitchen

Pexels/Reddit

Some people will go to surprising lengths to escape the grind of 9-5 office life.

For one person, this meant building out a bonafide food business right from his own kitchen.

The catch? These weren’t gourmet meals. Heck, they weren’t homemade at all!

You’ll want to read on for this confession that will have you second-guessing where your takeout food really comes from.

I run a fake restaurant on a delivery app.

I registered a company, bought all the take-away boxes from Amazon, signed up for a few delivery apps, made a few social media accounts, and printed leaflets that I drop in mailboxes.

The business, you ask?

I re-sell microwave meals. On some meals I add something to make them look better, like cheese.

So far it’s at around £200 a day in revenue.

So far, no one has caught on.

Nobody suspects a thing. Soon someone will come for hygiene inspection, but I’ll pass that check without any problems.

Still, they wonder about the ethical implications of this.

It’s not illegal to operate out of your own kitchen.

Should I feel bad? I feel kind of proud, to be fair, and free as a bird from the 9–5 life.

Sure, people might be mad if they figure it out, but for now, they were raking in the cash.

What did Reddit think?

In this day and age, there’s a million ways to make a quick buck.

Screenshot 2025 08 18 at 3.40.37 PM He Took Store Bought Meals, Repackaged Them As Homemade, And Turned The Hustle Into A Profitable Business

This person really knows how to hustle.

Screenshot 2025 08 18 at 3.41.19 PM He Took Store Bought Meals, Repackaged Them As Homemade, And Turned The Hustle Into A Profitable Business

This commenter can’t help but wonder how they pulled all this off.

Screenshot 2025 08 18 at 3.42.07 PM He Took Store Bought Meals, Repackaged Them As Homemade, And Turned The Hustle Into A Profitable Business

And what do the actual customers think about it?

Screenshot 2025 08 18 at 3.42.34 PM He Took Store Bought Meals, Repackaged Them As Homemade, And Turned The Hustle Into A Profitable Business

No matter what other people thought, this hustler wasn’t losing sleep over it.

If anything, they felt freer than ever!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.