WANTED: VOLUNTEER COOKS! Launch of new online meal planning system

A Donegal business woman is looking for local volunteers to help launch an exciting new online meal-planning and cookery system.  Sîan Breslin, owner of Donegal Manor cookery school and guest house, is about to launch her unique new Internet-based meal planning system, “Siansplan”. To get the new service up and running she is inviting anyone who has an interest in cooking in the North West to help test the system by becoming a member and submitting as many recipes as they want. These recipes plus Siansplan recipes will be used to create a family meal plan and shopping list for 3 weeks.  Siansplan volunteers will enjoy free membership for a year enabling them to save up to €1,000 through reduced shopping bills.

Sîan had the idea for the new system soon after she appeared on television with celebrity chefs Derry Clarke and Catherine Fulvio.  Donegal County Enterprise Board, Enterprise Ireland and Letterkenny Institute of Technology have all supported the development of the new online service. “We have been developing the system since 2009 and it’s finally ready to go live”, said Sîan.  “We want local people to help us test and review the system before we do a full national and UK launch.”

Originally from Wales, Sîan trained as an Home Economics teacher before marrying Donegal-native Michael Breslin and moving to Donegal Town in 1978, where she continued teaching.  In 2004 she decided to change career by building and managing the four star guest house Donegal Manor.  In 2008, Sîan started up her own Cookery School, but with a specific focus on health, family budgeting and reducing waste.  Over the past 2 years Sîan has conducted extensive research with her cookery school students to develop a meal planning system which is simple to use, helping families to save money and optimizing their health. The easy-to-use new online system will help families save up to 30% on their weekly shopping bills.  The website comes pre-loaded with hundreds of Donegal Cookery School recipes created by Siansplan Chef Anthony Armstrong and Sîan herself. Members use the system to build a weekly set of meal plans and recipes and then the system automatically creates a shopping list for the week.  Siansplan has been developed to control food shopping, optimise family health, reduce food waste and eliminate mealtime stress.  

“Our volunteers will be asked to add some of their favourite recipes onto the site which will be used  to create their own personal and private Family Cook Book”, said Sîan.  “We will also ask them to use Siansplan to create their own unique family mealplan each week for 3 weeks. Each volunteer will be asked to take note of the amount of money they save and whether they found Siansplan useful in eliminating mealtime stress and reduce food waste. In return they will get full access to the system for a year, enjoying the Siansplan members forum and kitchen support”.

Home cooks who would love to benefit from using Siansplan and avail of a one year free membership should contact Sîan immediately at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.siansplan.com