I tried to order my family the viral $12 'dinner box' at McDonald's. I'm never trying it again — but you might get lucky.

• I tried to get a "dinner box" from McDonald's after seeing a TikTok user get tons of food for $12.

• But "dinner box" deals vary by location — franchisees decide if and how they'll offer them.

• My local eatery was a bust for "dinner box" deals, but at least the McDonald's app saved me money.

The one consistent thing about the latest viral McDonald's menu item, the "dinner box," is how inconsistent it seems to be.

It recently gained steam when a TikTok user shared she got a "dinner box" containing two cheeseburgers, four small fries, a 10-piece McNuggets, and two Big Macs for only $12 at her local McDonald's. The video now has over 12 million views.

It's quite a deal, especially since the fast-food giant has been raising the prices of popular items, and some are double the price they were just 10 years ago.

Since I live with two teenagers who'd eat McDonald's for every meal if I'd let them, I tried to find the fabled $12 "dinner box" at my closest Mickey D's locations.

Not only was my attempt a total bust, but also I doubt I'd order another family-style meal deal from the chain in the future. Here's how it went and what I'd suggest to others hoping to score this elusive deal.

I didn't feel optimistic as I began searching for my own discounted McDonald's "dinner box."

I started my hunt by reading comments on the original TikTok. Many users shared they found no "dinner box" deals near them, or they only found pricier ones with different menu combinations.

As it turns out, "dinner box" promotions vary by location — a representative for McDonald's told Business Insider that franchisees set their own prices and promotions, which includes these boxes. If a franchisee chooses to offer them, they decide what's in them and how much they cost.

It seems the best way to check if your McDonald's has a "dinner box" deal is to ask in person or look under the Shareables section of the McDonald's app.

Although I found a few family-style meal deals at my local McDonald's using the app, there were no "dinner box" options or packages that met the needs of my family of four.

I combined meals in the Shareables section of the app to build my own "box" and feed my family dinner.

With no simple "dinner box" in sight, I decided to create my own with contents similar to what I saw in the original TikTok.

To get within the same ballpark of menu items and ensure everyone in my family had a burger and fries, I combined two options from my local McDonald's Shareables menu.

I got a Classic Big Mac pack — two Big Macs, a 20-piece pack of McNuggets, and two medium fries for $20 — and the Classic Cheeseburger pack — two cheeseburgers, a 20-piece pack of McNuggets, and two medium fries for $16.

I also ordered two soft drinks for my kids, which put my total for the meal at around $40.

Using the MyMcDonald's Rewards in the McDonald's app, I was able to select a deal for 20% off my mobile order, bringing the total down to $34.

Picking up our order took longer than expected.

When we checked in at the McDonald's drive-thru to pick up our mobile order, we were told our food would take "two to three minutes" to prepare and asked to pull into one of the restaurant's curbside delivery spots.

We waited about 10 minutes for the food to be brought to our car. I wondered if the delay had anything to do with ordering two larger Shareables or if it was just extra busy.

Although McDonald's got parts of our order right, we were missing the sauces for our nuggets.

My son prefers his cheeseburgers plain, and McDonald's got that part of our order spot on, delivering two condiment-free burgers to my car without issue.

However, we arrived home to find the six sauces we painstakingly chose for our McNuggets had been left out of the bag.

It was a little frustrating to find we'd now be eating 40 nuggets without any of our favorite sauces, like honey mustard, Buffalo, and barbecue.

But mistakes happen — next time, we'll check our order before leaving.

The meal was tasty, but I don't think it was worth the price.

From the long wait time to the high prices to the missing sauces, there were areas where our McDonald's dinner fell short.

Really, our food didn't feel like a deal at all since I had to order two complete meals to accommodate the needs of my family of four.

Even after using a coupon, the $34 price of our meal seemed high, especially considering my family usually views fast food at McDonald's as affordable.

For the $30 to $40 range, I've gotten better family meal packs from sit-down and fast-casual chains like Red Lobster and Panera Bread — and, at both places, I found the quality of the food to be higher.

I wouldn't go through the hassle again ... but you might have better luck.

Based on this experience alone, I wouldn't order from the McDonald's Shareables menu again.

But I will continue to check the deals on the McDonald's app, the MVP of the trip. It always has a rotating mix of national and local promotions, which can range from percent-off discounts to free fries.

If you want to look for a "dinner box" yourself, start by contacting your local McDonald's or checking the Shareables section on the app for locations near you.

You might just get lucky, depending on your local franchisee.

But don't get your hopes up — I imagine these super-discounted bundle deals will be tough to find in areas like California, where some McDonald's franchise owners are raising food prices to offset the fact that the minimum wage for fast-food workers there just went up.

And, well, if that TikToker's $12 "dinner box" is ever offered by my local McDonald's franchisees in Florida, I'm definitely getting it.

Read the original article on Business Insider