I get my vanilla beans every year, on my birthday, for free. Yep! That's right, 6 Madagascar vanilla beans, absolutely free. That's enough vanilla beans to make about a pint of vanilla extract (using the recipe in this post), which lasts me about 1 year.
Getting free vanilla beans -- retail birthday/rewards clubs
How do I get free Madagascar vanilla beans (and how can you get some too)? I sign up for a variety of birthday freebies from restaurants and retail stores. One of the retail birthday clubs that I've signed up for is Cost Plus World Market. A week or so before my birthday, they email me a coupon good for $10 off any purchase. This coupon is good for the entire month of my birthday.
World Market happens to have the best local prices on vanilla beans, $2.99 for a packet of 2 vanilla beans. They fly off the store's racks. (As soon as I get my birthday coupon in the email, I give our local World Market a phone call and ask about their supply of vanilla beans. I don't want to make the trip there to find they are temporarily out of stock.)
Price comparison -- grocery stores sell single vanilla beans in a plastic tube for about $10 each! So, for my $10 coupon, I get 3 packets of vanilla beans, or 6 vanilla beans.
For coupons, birthday surprises (I've been receiving $10 coupons on my birthday for a few years) and alerts to special sales, you can sign up for Cost Plus World Market Market Explorers Reward program.
World Market has been around for several decades (since the 1950s). I remember when they were primarily a west coast store. I shopped at one of their locations in southern California back in the 70s and 80s. They now have over 250 stores across the US. By the way, I don't get anything for telling you about them. They don't know that I exist. I just think this $10 birthday coupon is a great deal, and want to share with you.
If you don't have a World Market near you, you can use your $10 birthday coupon online. They do ship, although shipping can be pricey ($4.95 for orders under $15). Still, if you used your $10 coupon and ordered 3 or 4 packets of vanilla beans (6 to 8 beans), you'd only be out-of-pocket $6.95 tops (if ordering 4 packets @ $2.99 each, less $10 coupon, plus shipping charge of $4.95).
Other sources for buying vanilla beans at a reasonable price point -- online might be the next best thing
If World Market's rewards program isn't your thing, ordering vanilla beans online through other sources, like beanilla.com, ebay or Amazon is a good option. Beanilla.com offers free shipping from time to time, and their prices are very reasonable for vanilla beans. Also, many people use ebay and Amazon for buying vanilla beans. Check a couple of sources and price it out before buying.
note: as of yesterday, May 14, 2014, Beanilla.com had a click-through ad in the right hand side bar, on my page here, indicating a price on Madagascar vanilla beans of $8.95 USD, free shipping for 10 vanilla beans. I don't know if that ad is still on my page. But it does indicate that they currently have some sort of free shipping promotion going on.
Now for the giveaway part of this post
If you'd like a couple of packets of vanilla beans, enough to make 4 ounces of vanilla extract, I'm giving away 2 packets (4 beans) to 1 winner. If you've never made your own vanilla extract, this could give you the opportunity to see if you like it. And if you already make your own, you know just how expensive vanilla beans can be -- here are a few for free!
Just leave a comment in the comment section below. This giveaway is open for the next 6 days, closing at midnight PDT, Tuesday May 20th. This is open to the USA, only. The winner will be drawn randomly. I'll announce the winner on Thursday May 22nd in my regular blog post.
Good luck!
