I always use ground cumin, ground coriander,basil,Chinese five spices, garlic and chillies in most things I cook (not all together lol coz that would be awful)
I sometimes use the schwartz chicken seasoning on potato wedges. I use mixed herbs in a lot of tomato dishes. For curries, I bung pretty much anything in, and I love ground cardamon pods. Garlic pepper livens up a lot of dishes too, but go easy on it, it's pretty hot.
tarragon goes lovely with chicken or with baked fish
Thyme goes really nice with chicken also
I tend to bung a bay leaf in any meat based casserole i make
my fave thing at the mo is pumpkin , squash and courgette cut into big chunks with chilli, cumin and corriander sprinkled over them with a bit of fry light then roasted off
ones i couldnt live without are deffo
Black peppercorns
Sea Salt
Dried corriander
Dried cumin
Chilli flakes
chilli powder
Thyme
cheapo tesco value dried mixed herbs which i bung in my scrambled eggs
I noticed yesterday that Tesco have a budget brand for some of the more common dried herbs n spices and they were about 40p a jar so if your stocking up from scratch id have a look at these and that way if you find there is one you dont like you havent wasted much
I love thyme and marjarom(great in tomato based pasta sauces) and rosemary for anything to do with lamb.
In terms of spices, i use everything, we have a drawer in our kitchen that is solely full of spices, but i do use all purpose seasoning, cumin, chinese five spice, paprika and bouquet garni
Mixed herbs in my tomatoey sauces
Cinammon on porridge (!!! YUM !!!)
Cumin in curries
Chilli powder in frittatas/bean burgers
Nutmeg in my rice pudding... mmmm
Chinese 5 Spice is lovely in stirfries
As for fresh herbs, my ultimate favourite is basil. Tastes lovely and makes the food look posh! Hehe.