The cheapest 70-item list in Ventura County.

The setup

70 items. A normal family of four's weekly cart. Dairy, protein, produce, pantry, paper goods, the works. Oxnard zip code. Prices pulled April 1, 2026.

Why Aldi didn't win alone

Aldi is cheap on basics — but it doesn't carry everything. Specialty produce, certain dairy cuts, and the specific snack brands a real family actually buys just aren't there. The optimized trip sent pantry and paper goods to Aldi, produce and cheese to Trader Joe's, and the "last 15%" to Ralphs. That 15% is the whole point. It's the long tail most comparison tools give up on.

Where the savings actually come from

Three places, in this order:

1. Staples. Milk, eggs, pantry basics. Aldi wins 9 times out of 10 — but by wildly different margins.
2. Produce. Sprouts and Trader Joe's trade the top spot by season. Avocados are a Trader Joe's layup 80% of the year.
3. "Name-brand necessities." The branded stuff kids won't switch off of — Ralphs and Vons run weekly promos that nobody else matches.

Is it worth driving to three stores?

Here's the math: in Ventura County, Aldi / TJ's / Ralphs are rarely more than 4 miles apart. That's ~15 minutes of extra driving and maybe $3 of gas. Saving $143 in exchange for $3 and fifteen minutes is a 48× hourly return. Every single trip.

The takeaway

You're leaving ~45% on the table at a single-store trip. Even the cheapest single store (Aldi) leaves ~25%. The only way to close that gap is to route items store by store — and that's unworkable without software.

Your list is probably leaving similar money on the table. Run it through the app once and you'll see.