What to feed our visiting Spanish students?

[lechatnoir]

We are hosting 2 Spanish students for a month and need to provide 3 meals a day. Dinner I'm fine with but not sure what sort of things they'd typically eat for packed lunch and breakfast. We have healthy dinner but lunch and breakfast less so cereal or toast for breakfast then packed lunch is usually filled wraps or sandwiches, packet of crisps and a piece of fruit sometimes pasta or soup.

Any suggestions? We don't get a huge allowance & aren't particularly flush so nothing too pricey (eg pack of ham or carton of OJ would be gone in one serving with 4 teens!) and things I can make/serve in bulk would be great.

I’d say if you really want to and can source it then Spanish/Portuguese delis and shops have a wide range of cakes, crisps, biscuits etc. Might be worth buying some in then if they eat them fine if not you can have them.

I worked in France, in a bed and breakfast situation. All Spanish guests, no exceptions, wanted hot chocolate and doughnuts or baguette and Nutella for breakfast - unlike Northern Europeans who always asked for cheese/eggs/ ham and milk.

Just provide them with whatever you'd normally eat!
They're here to learn English and learn about the culture here. You're not an international hotel!

This

We've hosted loads of foreign students, after a while we had pretty much a set menu!
Breakfast was always a help yourself situation, bread by the toaster, with butter, jam, Nutella etc. Cereals in clear boxes with a milk jug. Fruit bowl. Yoghurts. I made them a hot drink if they wanted one. My only advice would be to tell them that they had to get dressed before breakfast. They are not good at time keeping in the mornings...
Lunch boxes were simple, two rolls with cheese, meats, salad etc available. A packet of crisps, a piece of fruit, a chocolate biscuit. They always liked trying different crisps and biscuits so we had a different variety every day.
Dinners were just normal family meals. First night always pizza, then things like spag bol, curry etc. Tried to always make things that they could serve themselves. Most never ate dessert, but there were always yoghurts on the table and I always made hot drinks for them after if they wanted.
Their appetites varied hugely. They always loved trying 'classic British foods' like jelly or mushy peas or baked beans (they rarely enjoyed them but it was always fun).

One thing I do for them is movie night, usually a family comedy, it helps their English. I usually buy a selection of sweets I liked at their age and do a pickn mix. It usually starts conversation about sweets, toys etc it's only a small thing costs pence but everyone of them and their parents came back thanking me for it.

I have, thick slices of proper bread, not pre sliced stuff. Drizzle of olive oil, rub it with a half tomato ( squeeze out juice and seeds) sprinkle of salt. It’s actually really nice.

If it's a cultural exchange, toast and or cereal for breakfast, fry up on a weekend as a treat. Stick some Haggis on the fry up.

Fish and chips at least once and I would suggest a parmo. Decent curry?

They ain't here to replicate what they would have at home.

When I had a French student for a week I went to waitrose (normally shop at tesco) and bought nice rolls and fillings. Eg. Bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese. I provided a bigger packed lunch than normal as someone on mumsnet said they have large packed Lunches. I bought fruit and veg, nice yogurts etc and a treat like chocolate