Vanilla Extract on a Budget

DISCLAIMER:
This is not really about reusing something, but more about getting the most out of your budget.

Chuck some vanilla beans in a glass jar with some vodka (I sliced each bean lengthwise) and leave them there for a month or two.  Make sure your vodka covers the entirety of the beans (I added more later - as you can see I did not initially purchase enough vodka).  The amount of beans I used was a little bit on the small side of what you would want for a true extract, but I think it will do in a pinch.  I got my beans a Costco, but I have also looked into ordering in bulk online from this company.  One thing I do not recommend is buying your beans from the plain old grocery store unless you're ok with spending $8 for three beans.  

BUT WAIT did you know that even after leaving the beans in the vodka for that long they still have a little bit of vanilla power left over?  Yes!  Take those leftover beans and either make a bit more extract (use half as much vodka) or tuck them in a jar of berry/superfine sugar and pow - you'll have vanilla flavoured sugar.

Approximate cost of project: 

1. Vodka: $40
2. Vanilla Beans: $12 (ish... I can't remember what they were originally and I used some of them for other projects.
3. Glass jar: $3 

Basically you'll end up with around a litre of extract which is great when you're paying over $10 for a tiny bottle in the grocery store.

Stay tuned for a progress update (this was posted quite a while after making it so it won't take months).