Jag planerar hellre veckomenyn än att köpa för mycket mat.

It is a very common Swedish pattern for expressing preference between two actions: rather ... than ...

• hellre = rather / preferably
• än = than
• att + infinitive = to do something

So the structure is:

Jag planerar hellre X än att göra Y.

It compares two choices and says the speaker prefers the first one.

Because in a normal Swedish main clause, the finite verb usually comes early, and adverbs like hellre often come right after it.

So:

• Jag planerar hellre ... = natural
• Jag hellre planerar ... = not the normal word order

This is one of the word-order patterns English speakers often need to get used to in Swedish.

Because the second part is an infinitive phrase: att köpa för mycket mat.

When Swedish compares two actions, it often uses:

hellre ... än att + infinitive

For example:

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

If you are comparing nouns instead of actions, you do not use att:

• Jag dricker hellre te än kaffe.

Because the subject is already understood. The same person is doing both actions, so Swedish does not need to repeat jag here.

That is very similar to English:

• I’d rather plan the weekly menu than buy too much food.

You also do not repeat I before buy.

If Swedish did repeat the subject, the structure would change and sound heavier.

Because Swedish usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, veckomenyn is built from:

• vecko- = week / weekly
• meny = menu
• -n = the definite ending

So:

• en veckomeny = a weekly menu
• veckomenyn = the weekly menu

Writing it as two words would be incorrect in standard Swedish.

It is the definite ending, meaning the.

Swedish often adds definiteness to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• en meny = a menu
• menyn = the menu
• en veckomeny = a weekly menu
• veckomenyn = the weekly menu

This is a very important Swedish pattern.

Because Swedish usually marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun itself.

So instead of saying a separate word like English the weekly menu, Swedish often just says:

veckomenyn

You only get a separate definite word as well in certain cases, especially with adjectives:

• den nya veckomenyn = the new weekly menu

Without an adjective, den veckomenyn usually sounds more like that weekly menu than just the weekly menu.

Because mat is treated as an uncountable noun here, like food in English.

Use:

• för mycket with uncountable nouns
• för många with countable plural nouns

Compare:

• för mycket mat = too much food
• för många äpplen = too many apples

So mycket is correct because mat is not being counted as separate items.

Because mat is being used in a general, uncountable sense.

That is similar to English:

• too much food
• not too much a food

If you meant specific food, Swedish could use a different form, such as:

• maten = the food
• den här maten = this food

But here the meaning is general, so plain mat is natural.

Because Swedish often uses the present tense for general preferences, habits, and even future plans.

So Jag planerar hellre ... can sound natural even if English might sometimes use I’d rather plan ...

If you want to make the preference sound more explicitly conditional, Swedish can also say:

Jag skulle hellre planera veckomenyn än att köpa för mycket mat.

Both are understandable, but the original sentence is perfectly natural.

Yes. A very natural alternative is:

Jag planerar hellre veckomenyn i stället för att köpa för mycket mat.

But there is a small nuance:

• hellre ... än att ... strongly highlights a preference between two options
• i stället för att ... means instead of ... and focuses more on replacement

Both work, but hellre ... än att ... is especially useful when you want to stress what you prefer to do.