Both my kids had their first taste of cereal at 4 months - both hated it! The health visitors are keen to get babies to eat cereals as they have all sorts of added vitamins so I tried mixing it into puréed carrot - success!
When you are cooking food that your baby is going to eat DON'T use salt as babies need very little and too much is very harmful.
I cooked batches of vegetables, puréed them and froze them in ice cube trays. This made meals very easy as you just select a mix and microwave. Health professionals here don't approve of using microwaves on baby food but when it's a purée its easy to stir it and make sure there are no hot or cold bits - just test before giving to your baby. My boys particularly liked butter nut squash and mashed potato & broccoli. I only introduced meat when they were about 8 months old and already eating a good range of vegetables.
I wasn't being virtuous making their food myself it was just more pleasant then having food spat at me which was their reaction to the tinned food/jars.
