Trader Joe's Returning Fall Mac & Cheese Has Shoppers Excited

Supermarket giants like Trader Joe's have certain year-round cult classics with followings that could put Taylor Swift's fandom to shame, but as we slowly inch towards the holiday season beginning in fall each year, the selection of cult classics gets dialed up a notch.

After weeks of speculation on social media, the grocer finally spilled the beans on its fall lineup for 2022 a few days back (via Trader Joe's). As always, the fall season at TJ's has tons of pumpkin spice-flavored, maple-spiked, and butternut squash-themed goodies in store for shoppers. While the supermarket has added several new items like the cinnamon roll blondie bar mix and pumpkin gnocchi that have shoppers racing to their nearest location, there are plenty of Trader Joe's fall favorites returning as well.

Pumpkin spice-flavored coffees and milks, spreads and dips, pancakes, waffles and muffin mixes, cheesecakes and pies, cookies, bisques, and soups — all the reigning supremes of fall are back on the store's shelves. But it's not just the pumpkin mania that's returned: Instagram account @traderjoeslist has eyed another heavy hitter making the rounds of TJ's this year.

On Trader Joe's list of fall goodies for 2022 were two similar items: the butternut squash mac & cheese and the butternut squash mac & cheese bites. Although the chain had warned that not all items were in stock just yet, @traderjoeslist was happy to find that the frozen butternut squash mac & cheese was already available.

The post's comment section was quickly flooded with thrilled shoppers singing praises of the returning fall pasta with some claiming that they still had a couple of boxes left over from last year's stash. One user admitted that they had already been to TJ's this year and "stocked up and bought 8 boxes on Saturday [but] sadly that doesn't feel like enough."

Reddit posts from a few months ago also suggest that the butternut squash mac & cheese was such a cult classic that fans had plenty still tucked away in their freezers to enjoy the fall item all year round. One Redditor even confessed, "I'm mildly ashamed to admit this is the reason I bought a chest freezer." The product is such a hit amongst Trader Joe's shoppers that there are plenty of copycat recipes online for those who dearly miss their seasonal mac & cheese during the rest of the year. But fret not, the item has returned once more for all its fans to fill up their freezers for another year!