Trader Joe's Fans Are Balking At Texture Of Its Updated Mac And Cheese

As we all know, Trader Joe's has many food items with cult followings, one of which is its mac and cheese. In fact, people love the stuff so much, we've even published a Trader Joe's mac and cheese copycat recipe.

That being said, the store's boxed mac and cheese seems to have undergone some changes as of late. According to some internet users, this dinner staple disappeared off store shelves for a while, prompting one Amazon reviewer to believe it was discontinued. Around this time, Trader Joe's shoppers went looking for similar mac and cheese box mixes, and landed on Annie's Homegrown as a near-identical match.

However, many people have alleged that Trader Joe's mac and cheese and Annie's mac and cheese are one and the same. This is because, per Repsly, Trader Joe's sells many other brands under its own label. Now that Trader Joe's mac and cheese is back, shoppers are wondering if the changed recipe has something to do with Annie's.

No one likes change, but to be fair, it seems like the change to Trader Joe's mac and cheese has been a major flop. According to Eat This, Not That, the internet is so upset that it has devoted an entire Reddit thread to "warning" others about "the orange-boxed mac and cheese."

As the original poster claims, cheddar cheese used to be the first ingredient listed on the powdered cheese packet, but is now the fifth ingredient. And because we know that the order of ingredients says everything about the amounts used, this isn't exactly a pleasant discovery. Other Reddit users said they thought the new recipe was different as well, and described it as "[tasting] off," having a "grainy" texture, and seeming "like it had been left out for hours to coagulate." That's not particularly appetizing.

While one person theorized that Annie's had changed its recipe, and therefore changed the recipe for Trader Joe's mac and cheese, someone else suggested that the chain had simply switched suppliers. Either way, for the foreseeable future, we're probably all better off with another store-bought mac and cheese brand.