- 1). Make a list of local farmers markets and bulk food or wholesale food distributors by searching these terms online for your area. You may find a food distributor in your state that will deliver to your area for a fee, so do not exclude those as options.
- 2). Start by calling the local farmers markets, as they are often the easiest for non-commercial bulk purchases and they rotate stock frequently. Then call the local distributors on your list. On each call, ask if they sell the specific cut of chicken that you are looking for, what case size options it is available in, what each case size costs and what the best by or use by date is on it. If it is bone-in chicken ask for the kill date. If it is a distributor, ask if delivery is available and what the charge is.
- 3). Make a list of each of the responses and choose the option that best fits your needs. Analyze the options on who has the cut that you are looking for, the case size that best fits your needs at the best price and the use by or best by date that is furthest away, or for bone-in choose the kill date that is nearest the current date -- meaning that it is the freshest chicken.
- 4). If you have chosen a farmers market, visit the farmers market and pick up the chicken. If you have chosen a distributor, call and place the order with them. Be sure to ask when and where it will be available for pick-up or delivery.