I would use an XML file and use SimpleXML to retrieve the data, it's extremely easy. I store my page cache in XML files and its as easy as...

$xml->tag_name to grab the data. Ofcoarse, it can get a bit more complicated for nested items, but even that is pretty simple.

See :
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/functio...-load-file.php
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/functio...oad-string.php