“He was making it clear he meant literally eating.”
So then, did the thief on the cross eat his flesh and drink his blood since he was going to be with Jesus in paradise?
Do you think Christ, as He hangs on the cross dying for our sins, is bound by your legalistic game of gotcha?
The Church recognizes that sovereign Christ can draw anyone to Heaven even without His sacraments, which are given us following His ascension, so that we may have eternal life. The baptism, the confession and the Eucharist are ordinary means of grace; in extraordinary circumstances extraordinary events happen. For example, the Church recognized several catechumens, that is, unbaptized candidates for baptism, as martyrs and saints, based on that teaching.