You can buy kits of caps and resistors in common values, digikey/mouser etc sell them, there are also some on ebay. Prices vary from good to stupid. They usually come in a neat compartment case.
I buy the drawers and put new components in and label them, which is tedious at the start. I've been thinking of putting an LED matrix connected to the PC which i can type in a part search and it lights up the drawer where the parts are incuding xref, of course using a spreadsheet row/col would be a lot simpler.
Some component packs use the ultra cheap components though and of course you might end up with a bunch of values or tolerances you never use, 'fillers'
I always seem to be misisng one part, like the .1uF 0603 cap's i swear i had, so the kits are useful, just pick a range you'll use.
For identification there is the smart tweezer
http://www.advancedevices.com/products_tw.htm or even better the SuperProbe
http://mondo-technology.com/super.html which there are many variations of, its a cool little tool.