Jag fryser hellre in brödet än att slänga det.

Because frysa in is a fixed verb meaning to freeze something for storage.

• frysa on its own usually means to be cold
  • Jag fryser. = I’m cold.
• frysa in means to freeze food or other items
  • Jag fryser in brödet. = I freeze the bread / I’m freezing the bread.

So in this sentence, fryser in is not about feeling cold. It is the phrasal/separable verb frysa in.

In main clauses, Swedish often splits certain verb + particle combinations.

So:

• infinitive: att frysa in
• present tense in a main clause: jag fryser in

Compare:

• Jag ska frysa in brödet.
• Han frös in soppan.
• Vi har fryst in bären.

This works a lot like separable particle verbs in some other Germanic languages. The particle in stays later in the clause instead of attaching directly to the finite verb.

Hellre means rather or preferably.

So:

• Jag fryser hellre in brödet än att slänga det. = I’d rather freeze the bread than throw it away.

It expresses preference between two actions.

A useful comparison:

• hellre = rather
• gärna = gladly / willingly

For example:

• Jag stannar hellre hemma. = I’d rather stay home.
• Jag stannar gärna hemma. = I’m happy to stay home.

That is the normal word order in a Swedish main clause.

The finite verb usually comes early in the sentence, and adverbs like hellre often come after it:

• Jag fryser hellre in brödet ...
• Hon vill hellre gå.
• Vi äter gärna hemma.

So this placement is natural Swedish word order.

Än means than, and att slänga det is to throw it away.

Together, hellre ... än att ... means rather ... than ...

So the pattern is:

• hellre [verb/action] än att [verb/action]

Examples:

• Jag läser hellre än att titta på tv.
• Hon går hellre än att ta bussen.

In everyday Swedish, people also sometimes say hellre ... än ... without att, but än att slänga det is fully normal and clear.

Yes, in many cases you can hear or use both versions:

• hellre ... än att slänga det
• hellre ... än slänga det

Both are understandable, and both occur in real Swedish.
With att, the sentence can sound a little more explicit or complete. Without att, it can sound slightly more compact.

For a learner, än att + infinitive is a safe and natural pattern.

Brödet is the definite form: the bread.

So:

• bröd = bread
• brödet = the bread

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific loaf or specific bread already known in context, so brödet is natural.

Compare:

• Jag köpte bröd. = I bought bread.
• Jag fryser in brödet. = I’m freezing the bread.

Det refers back to brödet.

So:

• brödet = the bread
• slänga det = throw it away

Even though brödet is a neuter noun, you do not need to think too hard here: det is the normal pronoun that refers back to a neuter noun like bröd.

Yes. Slänga literally means throw, but in many everyday contexts it also means throw away / discard.

So here:

• slänga det = throw it away

If you want to be more explicit, Swedish can also say:

• slänga bort det

But in this sentence, just slänga det is perfectly natural.

Yes, fryser is present tense.

Swedish often uses the present tense where English prefers a more idiomatic expression like I’d rather.

So literally, the structure is something like:

• I freeze rather the bread than to throw it away

But natural English becomes:

• I’d rather freeze the bread than throw it away.

This is a good example of how natural translation does not always match the exact tense or structure word for word.

Yes. That is also correct.

• Jag fryser hellre in brödet än att slänga det.
• Jag skulle hellre frysa in brödet än att slänga det.

The version with skulle can sound a bit more explicitly like would rather in English.

The version without skulle is still very natural in Swedish and commonly used to express preference.

Yes, very natural. The pattern is common:

• Jag gör hellre X än att göra Y.
• Hon äter hellre hemma än att gå ut.
• Vi väntar hellre än att stressa.

So this sentence is a good model for expressing I’d rather do X than do Y in Swedish.