I am spoiled with having mountains of fresh chiles around and I really do prefer fresh most of the time. I typically just gather my dried chiles when it is time to make my chili powder, which is then my flavor base of operations. I do keep some chipotles around though they often don't make it in anything because I am impatient.
I second the chile in adobo sauce though. That stuff is
awesome. Recently a friend moved and she gave me a bunch of cans that I went through like crazy, except one, a can of
huitlacoche. I have no clue what to do with it and it intimidates me for some reason. I will have to get brave soon and just dive into it.
Big old cans of homminy are useful for a lot of things but I keep it mostly for my
pozole. That stuff is amazing on a cold night and one of my favorite meals. No need to go full cannibal though, I just use beef.