you should take a look at the

 ObjectResourceToText
 ObjectTextToResource

methods.
----------
procedure LoadFromDFM(fname: string; var strgs: TStringList);
var InStream, OutStream: TMemoryStream;
begin
  InStream := TMemoryStream.Create;
  OutStream := TMemoryStream.Create;
  try
    InStream.LoadFromFile(fname);
    ObjectResourceToText(InStream, OutStream);
    OutStream.Seek(0, 0);
    strgs.LoadFromStream(OutStream);
  finally
    InStream.Free;
    OutStream.Free;
  end;
end;