I liked the super baby food book, for just a place to get ideas. Put it someplace where you can pick up and read a page or two at a time, like while nursing or something.
Anyway, I've done brown rice, oatmeal, and barley cereals. It's not too bad if you grind in batches and just cook when you need every 3 days or so. Honestly, I've kept cereal in the fridge for 4 days with no problem, I think she's a little more over cautious about germs and stuff than I am. If it smells ok, why not? Just don't feed baby right from the storage container.
I've done a lot of batch freezing, usually once every 2-3 weeks I'll make a big batch of a few things and just keep all the frozen cubes in bags in a separate space in my freezer. I've done carrots, prunes, papaya, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, apples, white potatoes. Egg yolks too. I've given my lo tofu, cottage cheese and yogurt all at 7-8 months and no probs, my ped said go for it. For iron, I just add formula to the porridge or add blackstrap molasses. Also, I always keep store bought baby cereal flakes for the times I just don't have the time or energy to deal with making my own.
The other thing I really like about the super baby food book is the section that explains all about the different fruits and veggies, how to prepare, cook, buy, freeze, etc. Also the recipe section is really great, for the whole family.
Take what you want to out of it, and don't feel like a failure if you don't do the chart thing on a daily basis, with all vitamins, etc. Sometimes, it's about all you can do to get a cheerio in your kid, and maybe wash their hands once a day. :-)
