Cooking at the house

A kitchen changes what a group trip costs

Restaurant dinners for six people every night add up faster than the house does. Rentals in Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indian Wells, Indio and Coachella nearly all come with a full kitchen, and most come with a grill near the pool. Using both for two or three nights out of seven is not a sacrifice.

It also solves the logistics problem. Getting a group of eight to agree on a restaurant, drive to it and be seated together burns an hour of the evening before anyone eats. Cooking at the house means the pool stays open, the kids are not stuck sitting still, and nobody is watching the clock.

The valley makes this easier than most destinations because the growing season overlaps the visiting season. From November through April the produce at the markets and roadside stands is local and good, and it is the same stretch when the weather is worth being outside for.

Do one big stock-up on the way in

Palm Desert and La Quinta both have full-size supermarkets, and the sensible move is one large shop on the drive in rather than three small ones over the week. Your local manager can tell you which store is closest to the house before you arrive, which saves a lap of an unfamiliar town with a car full of luggage and a hungry group.

Buy more water than seems reasonable. Dry heat is deceptive and a group goes through it fast, especially with a pool involved.

Grill early or late. Standing over open flame at two in the afternoon here is a bad idea from May through September, and the pool deck itself can be too hot to cross barefoot in the middle of the day. Cooking at seven, eating at eight, is the rhythm the season sets.

The tradeoff is that somebody cooks and somebody cleans. Sort that out on the first night rather than the third. It is the thing that sours group houses, not the food.