Leanne - missed you round here - sounds like we are in very similar positions here. I have done a bit of this stuff for myself though due to the BFing. Still feeling VERY lost on weaning Megan though and she is getting hungry - barely lasting 2.5hrs between milk feeds now.
Megan is mainly on fruit purees - she has never really taken to veggies.
Oil - what can I use for cooking?
Butter - have found a range called Pure - is that ok or should I look for something else?
Bread - need to start finger food - do I go for Rye bread?
Milk in cooking - do I use his Aptimil Pepti or something else?
Stocks - realistically don't have time to make it myself so what can I use - is Boullion ok?
Pasta - are the 'free-from' supermarket ranges ok? Am I looking for rice pasta?
Any other grains to try with him?
Like Mashi says - any oil - just be careful with 'vegetable oil' as that can be soy based - check your labels.
Pure is a decent sunflower spread - watch out as they also do a soya based one. It is the green one - the yellow one is the one that you need. I have found other spreads in health food shops as well though - I have a bionia organic one ATM that I got from a farm shop and it is really nice!!
Most rye bread contains wheat. If you want to try bread I would go for a 'free from' one that is gluten and dairy free. But check your label for soy. Gluten free bread often contains egg as well though, so watch out for that. I actually use a breadmaker to make my bread and I am going to try to make gluten free for Megan soon so I will let you know. I find the 'free from' bread in a supermarket yuck - it has a very dry and crumbly texture.
Milk - there are some things that just don't work with formula. You can use either oat or rice milk. Oat milk can theoretically have gluten but my dietician said the amount in the milk would be too low to be worried about. Rice milk is only suitable as a main drink from age 5 but can be used in cooking.
Have a look in Boots - they do organic stock cubes for babies that are salt free. Just check the label though - but I think they are fine for a restricted diet as well.
You will need gluten free pasta if you want to do pasta. The annabel karmel range carries some gluten and dairy free pastas.
Other grains - I have a big list at home from the dietician - but obviously you will need to do a lot of home cooking to use them. If you haven't got a list I will post one for you. Oats are worth a trial on their own as a lot of gluten intolerant people can tolerate oats as it is a contamination issue rather than true gluten - and that will mean you can give a ready brek type thing. The plum baby cereal is make from rice, quinoa, millet and aramanth - so you could use that as a base for a breakfast cereal.
Organix snacks are VERY helpful - as are their rice cakes. I let M have them already as she isn't very keen on being spoon fed. She can do it herself, apparently!!
Puddings - have you tried adding something to sweeten the fruit? They can be quite tart otherwise. I'm thinking vanilla bean paste, or stewing with a vanilla pod in. Or maybe some cinnamon in apple or plums? It is tough though. I have just found a recipe for a rice pudding make with coconut milk that I was going to try myself - but something like that could work for the LOs as well really. Custard is a no no really due to dairy and eggs. You could do a fruit jelly out of a fruit puree and gelatine leaf - but it tends to be toddlers that like that stuff rather than a 7 mth old.
I saw a dietician with Megan who was really really good. So I do have loads of info on things to look for on labels if you don't have that info yet. She said not to feel rushed into grains and meats etc as the slower you go the more likely they will tolerate things as they have had time to mature. She was definately someone that felt a lot of these issues have been caused by early weaning in previous generations. She suggested 8ish mths to get the meats going, 10 mths for a gluten trial, similar time for egg, and leave the soy and dairy until 12 mths plus.
I got frustrated recently as I just want life to be easy - and M to eat the convienient things that J does - I gave her a breadstick. She got terrible, terrible wind pains, and screaming NWings.
Have you still ot constipation issues? I am struggling with M on that one.
Hope there is something helpful in that. It is my New Year challenge as well. I just need to get motivated to sort the poor girl out.