Coronavirus: McDonald's serves up essential groceries for Australians

McDonald's burger meal.
McDonald's burger meal. Photo credit: File

Australians can now order a side of milk and eggs with their Big Mac when they head out to grab a Macca's takeaway.

McDonald's has announced the expansion of its essentials menu, allowing Australians to pick up pantry staples from their local drive-through during the country's Level 3 COVID-19 response. The burger giant began trialling the initiative on April 1.

"Over the coming week, we'll be adding another basic essential to our menu, making cartons of eggs available to our customers," a McDonald's spokesman said over the weekend, as reported by news.com.au.

"Anyone who comes to a Macca's for our contactless drive-through or takeaway service will now be able to pick-up milk, English muffins, bread rolls and eggs.

"We're also now able to provide more milk options to customers with the addition of almond, soy and lactose-free milk cartons to the menu."

As of Sunday, customers can also purchase their pantry staples when ordering McDelivery via UberEats, Deliveroo or DoorDash.

"We're pleased to be able to continue to expand this offering to help the community safely access essential items like milk, bread and eggs, as well as their usual Macca's favourites," a McDonald's spokesman told the outlet.

Restaurants across New South Wales and Canberra were the first to take advantage of the expanded essentials menu on Sunday. The new addition will become available in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Northern Territory on Wednesday and in Western Australia on Saturday.

The franchise first introduced two and three-litre bottles of full cream, skim milk, English muffins and gourmet bread rolls to its essentials menu, priced between AU$2 and $3.

Under Level 3 restrictions, Australians are required to remain at home as much as possible. They are permitted to leave their place of residence for essential travel, healthcare and essential supply shopping. Unlike in New Zealand, cafes and restaurants are still allowed to operate takeaway and delivery services.

The McDonald's initiative is not available in New Zealand under Alert Level 4. All restaurants nationwide have been closed and only supermarkets, dairies and service station convenience stores are permitted to operate. Takeaway delivery has also been prohibited.