What Do You Feed Spiders?

My son had a tarantula. We fed it crickets mostly but in the event that a fly or some other insect had the misfortune to find its way into the house, the spider had some variation in its diet. If I were able to look at it objectively, I would have to admit that it was an attractive looking spider. By that, I mean that its coloration was pretty, but it was still a spider and I was never entirely comfortable with it.