It's only been a day since T.I. was officially declared a free man — and his family is already throwing together a "welcome home" party, filled with mountains of Southern-style cooking.

As previously reported, T.I. was released from an Atlanta halfway house early Thursday — and we're told his aunt and wife whipped up a bomb-ass celebration dinner , featuring a family-recipe mac 'n cheese, fried and BBQ chicken, fish, ribs, collard greens, salad, and red velvet cake.

It's going down any minute now — and we're told the entire to-do will be potluck style … with all of T.I.'s close friends and family bringing over even more food.

T.I. celebrated with a similarly soulful meal about a month ago on his way to the halfway house, before he was thrown back in prison.