This is the £29 Dunelm kitchen set that uni students (and their parents) are rushing to snap up – I wish I'd had one when I left for halls

With August here, thousands of students (and parents) will be planning for a fresh year of university or embarking on life in shared halls for the first time. Dunelm has made that process a little easier with the introduction of its new £29 Kitchen Starter Pack, designed to take the stress of out of the big move.

Kitted out with everything a student needs to make a start with cooking and meal prepping solo, this handy kit has all the basics covered including a saucepan and frying pan, as well as essentials tailor made for oven-pizzas, stir-fries and soups. All good student staples!

Here's a closer look at everything you can pick up for your shared kitchen in one neat box with this starter pack.

Dunelm has a surprising wealth of cookware treasures, including their cast iron casseroles which earned a glowing review from our in-house Home Economist. But rather than a heavy roaster, this set prioritises lightweight cookware essentials that pack neatly into one box. Seeing as most student halls can be very tight on space, this all-in-one approach is not only great for money saving but for keeping things tidy too.

Starting with pots and pans, this set consists of an 18cm saucepan alongside a 25cm frying pan. This should cover most needs capacity-wise when cooking for one. Alongside that there's a 32cm baking sheet and a separate 33cm pizza tray – ideal for a fast dinner with that emergency pizza that students love to keep in the freezer.

There's a wide range of handy accessories too. My favourite might be the spaghetti spoon, which has a built-in measuring element so that you don't end up with triple the amount of pasta you need. I could've definitely done with one during my first foray into cooking in my first year.

You'll also find a slotted turner, solid spoon utensil, kitchen scissors, a hand grater, bottle opener and tongs within the box. The chopping board is another absolute essential that's thrown in.

Prep boxes for university have become ever more popular in recent years and can help cut costs if you need to buy everything from scratch. IKEA's Student Box is a hit every year, though I can't see signs of it being available to buy just yet. The Swedish brand is a failsafe for good student cookware all year-round – our five-star review of the IKEA HEMKMOST 7-piece cookware set proves that. It's a great pick for a student who is very culinary-minded.

If you like the idea of ticking uni essentials off your list in one fell swoop, there are plenty of other areas that Dunelm has covered with various all-in-one sets.

If you want to get ahead of your to-do list ahead of September, these clever kits seem the perfect place to start. I wish I'd been as organised for my first term fending for myself!