It’s my understanding that the recommended ones are a mixture of small, mid, and large equity funds so what kind of mixture should I aim for to match the total market blends? Also, why is the price of the blends so much less than ones of the above?
When you say "price," do mean fees or do you mean unit price? If the unit price, ignore it, it's irrelevant. If fees, then (all things being equal) you want to avoid the higher fees when you have a comparable investment with lower fee options.
As for your options, do you have non-Vanguard funds you can also select? Specifically, do you have a small cap index fund (something like the Russell 2000)?
Let's say you go for a 80/20 split between domestic and international. If your only options are those above, you might go
59% VIIIX
21% VMCPX
20% VTPSX
If you have a small cap index fund, you might do something like
59% VIIIX
14% VMCPX
7% Small Cap Index Fund*
20% VTPSX
These are just starting allocations you might consider, but you need to decide for yourself what exposure you want to international, if you want bonds (and you say you don't), etc. The goal of the percentages above (for domestic) is to simply follow the ~73/18/9 split between large / mid / small that a number of "total market" strategies follow, within a percentage or two.
